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USRARY 

U^WSMITY  OF 

CALIFORNIA 
SANTA  CRUZ 


ILHall. 


SMITHSONIAN    INSTITUTION 


A    MEMOIR 


OP 


JOSEPH  HENBY 


A  SKETCH  OF  HIS  SCIENTIFIC  WORK. 


BY 


WILLIAM   B.  TAYLOE 


READ  BEFORE  THE  PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY  OF  WASHINGTON, 
OCTOBER  26,  1878. 


Second.    Edition. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT   PRINTING   OFFICE. 

1880. 


[EXTRACTED  FROM  THE  HENRY  MEMORIAL  VOLUME  PUBLISHED  BY 
ORDER  OF  CONGRESS.] 


143 


SYNOPSIS. 


T3 


I. 

Page. 

EARLY  CAREER:  1814—1826 206 

Communications  to  the  Albany  Institute :  1824,  1825 208 

State  Appointment  as  a  Civil  Engineer :  1825 210 

Professorship  of  Mathematics  at  the  Albany  Academy:   1826 211 

ELECTRICAL  RESEARCHES  AT  ALBANY  :  1827 — 1832 212 

Great  development  of  the  "Quantity"  Magnet:  1828—1831 216 

The  first  "  Intensity  "  Magnet :  1829  — 1831 223 

The  first  Magnetic  Telegraph :  1830,  1831 228 

The  first  Electro-magnet  ic  Engine :    1831 230 

Discovery  of  Magneto-Electricity :  1831,  1832 233 

Discovery  of  the  "Extra  Current :"  1832 237 

Professorship  of  Natural  Philosophy  at  Princeton :  1832 238 

ELECTRICAL  RESEARCHES  AT  PRINCETON  :  1833 — 1842 238 

Electrical  Self-induction :  1832  — 1835 239 

Combination  of  Circuits:  1835,1836 243 

Visit  to  Europe :  1837 244 

Discovery  of  Successive  Orders  of  Electrical  Induction :  1838 248 

Oscillation  of  Electrical  Discharge :  1842 255 

INVESTIGATIONS  IN  GENERAL  PHYSICS  :  1830  — 1846 257 

Meteorology :  1830  — 1846 1 258 

Molecular  Physics:  1839  —  1846 263 

Light  andHeat:  1840  —  1845 267 

Miscellaneous  Contributions  :  1830  —  1844 270 

II. 

ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  SMITHSONIAN  INSTITUTION  :  1846  — 1878 274 

Meteorological  Work:  1847  —  1870 286 

Archaeological  Work:  1848  —  1877 290 

Editing  of  Smithsonian  Publications  :  1848  — 1877 293 

System  of  Scientific  Exchanges :  1851  — 1878 298 

Astronomical  Telegraphy :   1873—1878 300 

Official  Correspondence :  1850  —  1878 301 

Loss  by  Fire:  1865 305 

Second  Visit  to  Europe:  1870 307 

Services  in  improving  the  Light-House  system :  1852  — 1877 308 

Services  to  the  National  Government :   1850  — 1877 316 

CONTRIBUTIONS  TO  SCIENCE  AT  WASHINGTON  :  1850 — 1877 319 

Thermal  Telescope :  1847.  1848 320 

Views  of  Education:  1853 323 

Experiments  on  Building-Stone :  1854 326 

Sulphuric-Acid  Barometer:  1856 329 

Range  of  Information 332 

Theory  of  Organic  Dynamics :   1844 — 1857 335 

Investigations  in  Acoustics :  1851  — 1877 343 

PERSONALITY  AND  CHARACTER 360 

LIST  OF  SCIENTIFIC  PAPERS:  1828—1878 365 

SUPPLEMENTARY  NOTES  :  A— N . .                                       375 


THE    SCIENTIFIC    WORK 

OF 

JOSEPH  HENRY.* 

BY 

WILLIAM  B.  TAYLOR. 


To  cherish  with  affectionate  regard  the  memory  of  the  venerated 
dead  is  not  more  grateful  to  the  feelings,  than  to  recall  their  excel- 
lences and  to  retrace  the  stages  and  occasions  of  their  intellectual 
conquests  is  instructive  to  the  reason.  Few  lives  within  the  century 
are  more  worthy  of  admiration,  more  elevating  in  contemplation, 
or  more  entitled  to  commemoration,  than  that  of  our  late  most 
honored  and  beloved  president — JOSEPH  HENRY. 

Distinguished  by  the  extent  of  his  varied  and  solid  learning,  pos- 
sessing a  wide  range  of  mental  activity,  so  great  were  his  modesty 
and  self-reserve,  that  only  by  the  accidental  call  of  occasion  would 
even  an  intimate  friend  sometimes  discover  with  surprise  the  full- 
ness of  his  information  and  the  soundness  of  his  philosophy,  in  some 
quite  unsuspected  direction.  Eemarkable  for  his  self-control,  he 
was  no  less  characterized  by  the  absence  of  self-assertion.  Ever 
warmly  interested  in  the  development  and  advancement  of  the  young, 
he  was  a  patient  listener  to  the  trials  of  the  disappointed,  and  a 
faithful  guide  to  the  aspirations  of  the  ambitious.  Generous  with- 
out ostentation,  he  wras  always  ready  to  assist  the  deserving — by 
services,  by  counsel,  by  active  exertions  in  their  behalf. 

In  his  own  pursuits  Truth  was  the  supreme  object  of  his  regard, — 
the  sole  interest  and  incentive  of  his  investigations ;  and  in  its  quest 
he  brought  to  bear  in  just  allotment  qualities  of  a  high  order;  — 
quickness  and  correctness  of  perception,  inventive  ingenuity  in 

*  Read  before  the  "  Philosophical  Society  of  Washington,"  October  26th,  1878.  (Bul- 
letin of  the  Phil.  Soc.  W.  vol.  ii.  p.  230.)  A  large  portion  of  the  discourse  (including 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  section  on  the  "Administration  of  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion") was  necessarily  omitted  on  the  occasion  of  its  delivery. 

(205) 


206  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

experimentation,  logical   precision   in  deduction,  perseverance   in 
exploration,  sagacity  in  interpretation.  * 

EARLY   CAREER. 

Of  Henry's  early  struggles, —  of  the  youthful  traits  which  might 
aiford  us  clue  to  his  manhood's  character  and  successes,  we  have  but 
little  preserved  for  the  future  biographer.  Deprived  of  his  father 
at  an  early  age,  he  was  the  sole  care  and  the  sole  comfort  of  his 
widowed  mother.  Carefully  nurtured  in  the  stringent  principles  of 
a  devout  religious  faith,  he  adhered  through  life  to  the  traditions 
and  to  the  convictions  derived  from  his  honorable  Scottish  ancestry. 

At  the  age  of  about  seven  years,  (his  mother  having  been  induced 
to  part  with  him  for  a  time,)  he  was  sent  by  his  uncle  to  attend 
the  district  school  at  Galway,  in  Saratoga  county,  N.  Y.,  at  a  distance 
of  36  miles  from  Albany,  his  native  city.  He  remained  under  the 
care  of  his  grandmother  in  this  village  for  several  years,  until  the 
death  of  his  uncle;  when  he  returned  to  his  mother  at  Albany. 

As  a  youth  he  was  by  no  means  precocious,  as  seldom  have  been 
those  who  have  left  a  permanent  influence  on  their  kind.  He  seems 
to  have  felt  no  fondness  for  his  early  schools,  and  to  have  shown  no 
special  aptitude  for  the  instructions  they  afforded.  Like  many 
another  unpromising  lad,  he  followed  pretty  much  his  own  devices, 
unconcerned  as  to  the  development  of  his  latent  capabilities.  The 
books  he  craved  were  not  the  books  his  school-teachers  set  before 
him.  The  novel  and  the  play  interested  and  absorbed  the  active 
fancy  naturally  so  exuberant  in  youth ;  and  the  indications  from  his 
impulsive  temperament  and  dreamy  imaginative  spirit  were  that  he 
would  probably  become  an  actor — a  dramatist — or  a  poet. 

He  was  however  from  his  childhood's  years  a  close  observer — 
both  of  nature  and  of  the  peculiarities  of  his  felloAVS :  and  one  char- 

*  HENRY'S  tribute  to  Peltier,  seems  peculiarly  applicable  to  himself.  "He  pos- 
sessed in  an  eminent  degree  the  mental  characteristics  necessary  for  a  successful 
scientific  discoverer;  an  imagination  always  active  in  suggesting  hypotheses  for  the 
explanation  of  the  phenomena  under  investigation,  and  a  logical  faculty  never  at 
fault  in  deducing  consequences  from  the  suggestions  best  calculated  to  bring  them 
to  the  test  of  experience;  an  invention  ever  fertile  in  devising  apparatus  and  other 
means  by  which  the  test  could  be  applied;  and  finally  a  moral  constitution  which 
sought  only  the  discovery  of  truth,  and  could  alone  be  satisfied  with  its  attainment." 
(Smithsonian  Report  for  1867,  p.  158.) 


DISCOUESE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  207 

acteristic  early  developed  gave  form  and  color  to  his  mental  dispo- 
sition throughout  later  years,  —  an  unflagging  energy  of  purpose. 

In  1810,  or  1811,  when  about  thirteen  years  of  age,  he  was  ap- 
prenticed to  Mr.  John  F.  Doty,  a  watch-maker  and  silver-smith, 
in  Albany.  He  remained  in  this  position  about  two  years;  when 
he  was  released  by  his  employer  giving  up  the  business. 

About  the  year  1814,  while  a  boy  of  still  indefinite  aims  and  of 
almost  as  indefinite  longings,  having  been  confined  to  the  house  for 
a  few  days  in  consequence  of  an  accidental  injury,  he  took  up  a  small 
volume  on  Natural  Philosophy,  casually  left  lying  on  a  table  by  a 
boarder  in  the  house.  Listlessly  he  opened  it  and  read.  Before  he 
reached  the  third  page,  he  became  profoundly  interested  in  the  state- 
ment of  some  of  the  enigmas  of  the  great  sphinx — Nature.  A  new 
world  seemed  opening  to  his  inquisitive  eyes.  Eagerly  on  he  read, — 
intent  to  find  the  hidden  meanings  of  phenomena  which  hitherto 
covered  by  the  "veil  of  familiarity "  had  never  excited  a  passing 
wronder  or  a  doubting  question.  Was  it  possible  ever  to  discover 
the  real  causes  of  things?  Here  was  a  new  Ideal — if  severer,  yet 
grander  than  that  of  art.  He  no  longer  read  with  the  languid  en- 
joyment of  a  passive  recipient;  he  felt  the  new  necessity  of  reaching 
out  with  all  the  faculties  of  a  thinker,  with  all  the  activity  of  a  co- 
worker.*  For  the  first  time  he  realized  (though  with  no  conscious 
expression  of  the  thought)  that  there  is  —  so  to  speak, —  an  imagi- 
nation of  the  intellect,  as  well  as  of  the  emotional  soul ; — that  Truth 
has  its  palaces  no  less  gorgeous  —  no  less  wonderful  than  those  reared 
by  fancy  in  homage  to  the  Beautiful. 

The  new  impulse  was  not  a  momentary  fascination.  Thencefor- 
ward the  novel  was  thrown  aside,  and  poesy  neglected ;  though  to 
his  latest  day  a  sterling  poem  never  failed  to  strongly  impress  him. 
As  it  dawned  upon  his  reason  that  the  foundation  of  the  coveted 

*  "  There  is  a  great  difference  between  reading  and  study,  or  between  the  indolent 
reception  of  knowledge  without  labor,  and  that  effort  of  mind  which  is  always  neces- 
sary in  order  to  secure  an  important  truth  and  make  it  fully  our  own."  J.  HENRY. 
(Agricultural  Report  of  the  Patent  Office  for  1857,  p.  421.)  The  book  which  so  strongly 
impressed  him  was  entitled  "Lectures  on  Experimental  Philosophy,  Astronomy, 
r.nd  Chemistry:  by  G.  Gregory,  D.  D.,  Vicar  of  West-ham."  12mo.  London,  1808. 
The  owner  of  the  book  — a  young  Scotchman  named  Robert  Boyle— observing  the 
close  application  of  the  boy,  very  kindly  presented  the  book  to  him.  Many  years 
afterward  Henry  wrote  in  it:  "  It  accidentally  fell  into  my  hands  when  I  was  about 
sixteen  years  old,  and  was  the  first  book  I  ever  read  with  attention." 


208  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

knowledge  must  be  the  studies  he  had  thought  so  irksome,  he  at 
once  determined  to  repair  as  far  as  possible  his  loss  of  time  by 
taking  evening  lessons  from  two  of  the  professors  in  the  Albany 
Academy ;  applying  himself  diligently  to  geometry  and  mechanics. 
And  here  shone  out  that  strength  of  will  which  enabled  him  to  rise 
above  the  harassing  obstacle  of  the  res  angusta  domi.  As  soon  as 
he  felt  able  (although  yet  a  mere  boy),  he  managed  to  procure  a 
position  as  teacher  in  a  country  school,  where  for  seven  months  suc- 
cessfully instructing  boys  not  much  younger  than  himself,  in  what 
he  had  acquired,  he  was  enabled  by  rigid  economy  to  take  a  regular 
course  of  instruction  at  the  Albany  Academy.  Again  returning  to 
his  school-teaching,  he  furnished  himself  with  the  means  of  com- 
pleting his  studies  at  the  Academy ;  where  learning  that  the  most 
important  key  to  the  accurate  knowledge  of  nature's  laws  is  a  famil- 
iarity with  the  logical  processes  of  the  higher  mathematics,  he 
resolutely  set  himself  to  work  to  master  the  intricacies  of  the  dif- 
ferential calculus. 

Having  finished  his  academic  course  and  passed  with  honor 
through  his  examinations,  he  then  through  the  warm  recommen- 
dation of  Dr.  T.  Romeyn  Beck  —  the  distinguished  principal  of 
the  Academy,  obtained  a  position  as  private  tutor  in  the  family  of 
General  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer.*  As  this  duty  did  not  exact 
more  than  about  three  hours  a  day  of  his  attendance,  he  applied 
his  ample  leisure  (having  in  view  the  medical  profession) — partly 
to  the  assistance  of  Dr.  Beck  in  his  chemical  experiments,  and  partly 
to  the  study  of  anatomy  and  physiology,  under  Doctors  Tully  and 
Marsh. 

His  devotion  to  natural  philosophy  which  had  only  grown  and 
strengthened  with  his  own  growth  in  knowledge,  led  him  constantly 
to  repeat  any  unusual  experiment  as  soon  as  reported  in  the  foreign 
scientific  journals ;  and  to  devise  new  modifications  of  the  experi- 
ment for  testing  more  fully  the  range  and  operation  of  its  funda- 
mental principles. 

Communications  to  the  Albany  Institute. — The  "Albany  Insti- 
tute" was  organized  May  5th  1824,  by  the  union  of  two  older 

*  Presiding  officer  of  the  original  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Albany  Academy. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  209 

societies;  with  General  Stephen  Van  Rensselaer  as  its  President:* 
and  young  Henry  became  at  once  an  active  member:  though  with 
his  modest  estimate  of  his  own  attainments,  he  preferred  the  part 
of  listener  and  acquirer,  to  that  of  seeming  instructor,  till  urged  by 
those  who  knew  him  best  to  add  his  contributions  to  the  general 
garner. 

Henry's  first  communication  to  the  Institute  was  read  October 
30th,  1824,  (at  the  age  of  about  twenty-six  years,)  and  was  "On  the 
chemical  and  mechanical  effects  of  steam :  with  experiments  de- 
signed to  illustrate  the  great  reduction  of  temperature  in  steam  of 
high  elasticity  when  suddenly  expanded."f  From  the  stop-cock 
of  a  strongly  made  copper  vessel  in  which  steam  could  be  safely 
generated  under  considerable  pressure,  he  allowed  an  occasional 
escape;  and  he  showed  by  holding  the  bulb  of  a  thermometer  in 
the  jet  of  steam,  at  a  fixed  distance  (say  of  four  inches)  from  the 
orifice,  that  as  the  temperature  and  pressure  increased  within  the 
boiler,  the  indications  of  the  thermometer  without  grew  lower;  — 
the  expansion  and  consequent  cooling  of  the  escaping  steam  under 
great  pressure,  increasing  in  a  higher  ratio  than  the  increased  tem- 
perature required  for  the  pressure.  And  finally  he  exhibited  the 
striking  paradox,  that  the  jet  of  saturated  steam  from  a  boiler  will 
not  scald  the  hand  exposed  to  it,  at  a  prescribed  near  distance  from 
the  try-cock,  provided  the  steam  be  sufficiently  hot.  J 

Prolific  and  skillful  in  devising  experiments,  Henry  delighted 
in  making  evident  to  the  senses  the  principles  he  wished  to  impress 
upon  the  mind.  Extending  the  law  of  cooling  by  expansion,  from 
steam  at  high  temperatures,  to  air  at  ordinary  temperatures,  his 

*The  Albany  Institute  resulted  from  the  fusion  of  "The  Society  for  the  Pro- 
motion of  Useful  Arts  in  the  State  of  New  York,"  organized  Feb.  1791,  (incorporated 
April  2nd,  1804,)  and  the  "  Albany  Lyceum  of  Natural  History  "  formed  and  incorpo- 
rated April  23rd,  1823 :  of  which  latter  society,  HENRY  had  been  a  member.  See  "  Sup- 
plement," NOTE  A. 

t  Trans.  Albany  Institute,  vol.  i.  part  2.  p.  30. 

J  While  it  requires  a  temperature  of  250°  F.  to  generate  a  steam-pressure  of  two 
atmospheres  (i.  e.  one  additional  to  the  existing),  25°  higher  will  produce  a  pressure 
of  three  atmospheres,  and  100°  higher,  (or  355°  F.)  will  produce  a  pressure  of  nine 
atmospheres:  the  curve  (by  rectangular  co-ordinates  of  temperature  and  pressure) 
resembling  a  hyperbola.  The  increased  velocity  at  high  pressure  produces  a  mole- 
cular momentum  of  expansion  carrying  the  rarefaction  beyond  the  limit  of  atmos- 
pheric pressure;  and  in  the  case  of  the  exposed  hand,  the  injected  air  current 
doubtless  adds  to  the  cooling  impression. 
13 

I 


210  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HEXKY. 

next  communication  to  the  Institute  (made  March  2nd  1825,)  was 
"On  the  Production  of  Cold  by  the  Karefaction  of  Air."  As 
before,  he  accompanied  his  remarks  by  several  characteristic  exhi- 
bitions. 

"One  of  these  experiments  most  strikingly  illustrated  the  great 
reduction  of  temperature  which  takes  place  on  the  sudden  rarefac- 
tion of  condensed  air.  Half  a  pint  of  water  was  poured  into  a 
strong  copper  vessel  of  a  globular  form,  and  having  a  capacity  of 
five  gallons;  a  tube  of  one-fourth  of  an  inch  caliber  with  a  num- 
ber of  holes  near  the  lower  end,  and  a  stop-cock  attached  to  the 
other  extremity,  was  firmly  screwed  into  the  neck  of  the  vessel; 
the  lower  end  of  the  tube  dipped  into  the  water,  but  a  number  of 
holes  were  above  the  surface  of  the  liquid,  so  that  a  jet  of  air  min- 
gled with  water  might  be  thrown  from  the  fountain.  The  apparatus 
was  then  charged  with  condensed  air,  by  means  of  a  powerful  con- 
densing pump,  until  the  pressure  was  estimated  at  nine  atmospheres. 
During  the  condensation  the  vessel  became  sensibly  warm.  After 
suffering  the  apparatus  to  cool  down  to  the  temperature  of  the  room, 
the  stop-cock  was  opened :  the  air  rushed  out  with  great  violence, 
carrying  with  it  a  quantity  of  water,  which  was  instantly  converted 
into  snow.  After  a  few  seconds,  the  tube  became  filled  with  ice, 
which  almost  entirely  stopped  the  current  of  air.  The  neck  of  the 
vessel  was  then  partially  unscrewed,  so  as  to  allow  the  condensed 
air  to  rush  out  around  the  sides  of  the  screw:  in  this  state  the 
temperature  of  the  whole  interior  atmosphere  was  so  much  reduced 
as  to  freeze  the  remaining  water  in  the  vessel." : 

Although  the  principle  on  which  this  striking  result  was  based 
was  not  at  that  time  new,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  par- 
ticular application,  thus  publicly  exhibited,  was  long  before  any  of 
the  numerous  patents  were  obtained  for  ice-making,  not  a  few  of 
which  adopted  substantially  the  same  process. 

A 

State  Appointment  as  a  Civil  Engineer. — Through  the  friendship 
and  confidence  of  an  influential  judge,  Henry  received  about  this 
time  an  unexpected  offer  of  an  appointment  as  engineer  on  the  sur- 
vey of  a  route  for  a  road  through  the  State  of  New  York,  from 

*  Trans.  Albany  Institute,  vol.  i.  part  2.  p.  36. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  211 

the  Hudson  river  on  the  east,  to  lake  Erie  on  the  west,  a  distance 
of  about  three  hundred  miles.  The  proposal  was  too  tempting  to 
his  natural  proclivities  to  be  refused;  and  being  appointed,  he  em- 
barked upon  his  new  and  arduous  duties  with  the  zeal  and  energy 
which  were  so  prominent  a  feature  of  his  character.  "His  labors 
in  this  work  were  exceedingly  arduous  and  responsible.  They 
extended  far  into  the  winter,  and  the  operations  were  carried  on  in 
some  instances  amid  deep  snows  in  primeval  forests."  In  connec- 
tion with  Professor  Amos  Eaton,  he  completed  the  survey  with 
credit  to  himself,  and  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  Commissioners 
of  the  work. 

So  attractive  appeared  the  profession  of  engineer  to  his  enter- 
prising disposition,  that  he  was  about  to  accept  the  directorship  in 
the  construction  of  a  canal  in  Ohio,  when  he  was  informed  that  the 
Chair  of  Mathematics  in  the  Albany  Academy  would  soon  become 
vacant,  and  that  his  own  name  had  already  been  prominently 
brought  forward  in  connection  with  the  position.  At  the  urgent 
solicitation  of  his  old  friend  and  former  teacher  Dr.  T.  Komeyn 
Beck,  he  consented  with  some  hesitation  to  signify  his  willingness 
to  accept  the  vacant  chair  if  appointed  thereto. 

Election  as  Professor  of  Mathematics. — In  the  spring  of  1826, 
Henry  was  duly  elected  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Albany  Academy 
to  the  Professorship  of  Mathematics  and  Natural  Philosophy  in 
that  institution.  As  the  duties  of  his  office  did  not  commence  till 
September  of  that  year,  he  was  allowed  a  practical  vacation  of  about 
five  months ;  which  was  partly  occupied  with  a  geological  explora- 
tion in  the  adjoining  counties,  as  assistant  to  Professor  Eaton,  of 
the  Rensselaer  School,  and  partly  devoted  to  a  conscientious  prepa- 
ration for  his  new  position. 

In  a  worldly  point  of  view,  this  variety  of  occupation  and  ver- 
satility of  adaptation  might  perhaps  be  regarded  as  unfavorable  to 
success.  As  a  method  of  culture,  it  was  of  unquestionable  advan- 
tage to  his  intellectual  powers.  A  hard  student,  with  great  capacity 
for  close  application,  he  accumulated  large  stores  of  information; 
and  in  addition  to  the  slaking  of  his  constant  thirst  for  acquire- 
ment in  different  directions,  his  leisure  was  occupied  to  a  considera- 


212  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

ble  extent  with  physical  and  chemical  investigations.  On  the  21st 
of  March  1827,  he  delivered  before  the  Albany  Institute  a  lecture 
on  "Flame,"  accompanied  with  experiments.* 

Meteorological  Work. — The  Regents  of  the  University  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  endowed  by  the  State  Legislature  with  super- 
visory functions  over  the  public  educational  institutions  of  the 
State,  —  in  1825  established  a  system  of  meteorological  observation 
for  the  State,  by  supplying  to  each  of  the  Academies  incorporated 
by  them,  a  thermometer  and  a  rain-gauge,  and  requiring  them  to 
keep  a  daily  register  of  prescribed  form,  to  entitle  them  to  their 
portion  of  the  literature  fund  of  the  State.  In  1827,  the  Hon. 
Simeon  De  Witt,  Chancellor  of  the  Board  of  Regents,  associated 
with  himself  Dr.  T.  Romeyn  Beck  and  Professor  Henry  of  the 
Albany  Academy,  to  prepare  and  tabulate  the  results  of  these 
observations.  The  first  Abstract  of  these  collections  (for  the  year 
1828)  comprised  tabulations  of  the  monthly  and  yearly  means  of 
temperature,  wind,  rain,  etc.  at  all  the  stations,  an  account  of 
meteorological  incidents  generally,  and  a  table  of  "Miscellaneous 
Observations  "  on  the  dates  of  notable  phases  of  organic  phenomena 
connected  with  climatic  conditions.  These  annual  Abstracts,  to 
which  Henry  devoted  a  considerable  share  of  his  attention,  were 
continued  through  a  series  of  years  and  were  published  in  the 
"Annual  Reports  of  the  Regents  of  the  University  to  the  Legisla- 
ture of  the  State  of  New  York.f  The  third  Abstract  (for  1830) 
includes  an  accurate  tabulation  by  Henry  of  the  latitudes,  longi- 
tudes, and  elevations  of  all  the  meteorological  stations;  over  forty 
in  number. 

ELECTRICAL    RESEARCHES    AT   ALBANY:    FROM  1827  TO  1832. 

Of  Henry's  distinguished  success  as  a  lecturer  and  teacher,  in 
imparting  to  his  pupils  a  portion  of  his  own  zeal  and  earnestness 
in  the  pursuit  of  scientific  knowledge,  as  well  as  in  winning  their 
affection  and  in  inspiring  their  esteem,  it  is  not  designed  here  to  dis- 
course; but  rather  of  his  solitary  labors  outside  of  his  professional 

*  Trans.  Albany  Institute,  vol.  i.  part  2.  p.  59. 

1  Reports  of  Regents,  etc.  Albany,  vol.  i.  1829-1835. 


DISCOUESE   OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  213 

occupation  in  communicating  and  diffusing  knowledge.  Very 
shortly  after  his  occupation  of  the  academic  chair  of  mathematics 
and  physics,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the  experimental  study  of 
that  mysterious  agency — electricity.  Professor  Schweigger  of 
Halle,  had  improved  on  Oersted's  galvanic  indicator  (of  a  single 
wire  circuit)  by  giving  the  insulated  wire  a  number  of  turns  around 
an  elongated  frame  longitudinally  enclosing  the  compass  needle; 
and  by  thus  multiplying  the  effect  of  the  galvanic  circuits,  had  con- 
verted it  into  a  real  measuring  instrument — a  "galvanometer."* 
Ampere  and  Arago  of  Paris,  developing  Oersted's  announcement 
of  the  torsional  or  equatorial  reaction  between  a  galvanic  conductor 
and  a  magnetic  needle,  had  found  that  a  circulating  galvanic  cur- 
rent was  capable  not  only  of  deflecting  a  suspended  magnet,  but  of 
generating  magnetism  —  permanently  in  sewing  needles,  and  tem- 
porarily in  pieces  of  iron  wire,  when  placed  within  a  glass  tube 
around  which  the  conjunctive  wire  of  the  battery  had  been  wound 
in  a  loose  helix;  and  had  thus  created  the  "  electro-magnet."  f  The 
scientific  world  was  just  aroused  to  the  close  interrogation  of  this 
new  marvel,  each  questioner  eager .  to  ascertain  its  most  efficient 
conditions,  and  to  increase  its  manifestations.  William  Sturgeon 
of  Woolwich,  England,  had  extended  the  discoveries  of  Ampere 
and  Arago,  by  dispensing  with  the  glass  tube,  constructing  a  "horse- 
shoe" bar  of  soft  iron  (after  the  form  of  the  usual  permanent 
magnet)  coated  with  a  non-conducting  substance,  and  winding  the 
copper  conjunctive  wire  directly  upon  the  horse-shoe;  and  had  thus 

*The  name  of  GAI^VANI  (as  original  discoverer  of  chemico-electricity)  is  usually 
retained  to  designate  both  the  current  and  its  generator;  although  the  chemico- 
electric  pile  and  battery  were  really  first  contrived  by  VOI/TA  in  1800.  In  the  same 
manner  OERSTED  is  generally  accounted  the  discoverer  of  electro-magnetism, 
although  he  nover  devised  an  electro-magnet;  and  appears  not  to  have  been  the  first 
even  to  discover  the  directive  influence  of  a  current  on  a  magnetic  needle.  Eighteen 
years  before  his  announcement,  GIAK  DOMENICO  ROMAGNOSI,  a  physicist  of  Trent, 
published  in  an  Italian  newspaper  of  that  city,  the  Gazzetta  di  Trento,  on  the  3rd  of 
August,  1802,  his  observation  of  the  galvanic  deflection  of  the  needle.  This  impor- 
tant discovery  was  also  published  in  Professor  G.  Aldini's  "Essai  thgorique  et 
experimental  sur  le  Galvanisme."  4to.  Paris,  1804,  p.  191 :  and  in  Professor  J.  Izarn's 
"  Manuel  du  Galvanisme."  8vo.  Paris,  1805,  sect.  ix.  p.  120. 

t  Annales  de  Chimie  et  de  Physique,  1820,  vol.  xv.  pp.  93-100.  VAN  BEEK  of  Utrecht, 
in  1821  inverting  ABAGO'S  experiment,  had  found  that  an  iron  or  steel  wire  coiled 
around  a  glass  tube  as  a  short  helix,  became  magnetic  on  passing  a  charge  from  a 
Leyden  jar  through  a  straight  brass  wire  placed  within  the  glass  tube.  Communi- 
cated by  Professor  G.  Moll.  (Brewster's  Edinburgh  Journal  of  Science,  Jan.  1822,  vol. 
vi.  p.  84.) 


214  MEMOEIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

produced  the  first  efficient  electro-magnet;  —  capable  of  sustaining 
several  pounds  by  its  armature,  when  duly  excited  by  the  galvanic 
current.  He  had  also  greatly  improved  lecture-room  apparatus  for 
illustrating  the  electro-magnetic  reactions  of  rotations,  etc.  (where 
a  permanent  magnet  is  employed),  by  introducing  stronger  magnets, 
and  had  thereby  succeeded  in  exhibiting  the  phenomena  on  a  larger 
scale,  with  a  considerable  reduction  of  the  battery  power.  * 

Faraday  had  not  yet  commenced  the  series  of  researches  which 
in  after  years  so  illumined  his  name,  when  Henry  published  his  first 
contribution  to  electrical  science,  in  a  communication  read  before  the 
Albany  Institute,  October  10th,  1827,  "On  some  Modifications  of 
the  Electro-Magnetic  Apparatus."  From  his  experimental  investi- 
gations he  was  enabled  to  exhibit  all  the  class  illustrations  attempted 
by  Sturgeon,  on  even  a  still  larger  and  more  conspicuous  scale, 
with  the  employment  of  very  weak  magnets  (where  required),  and 
with  a  still  further  reduction  of  the  battery  power.  These  quite 
striking  and  unexpected  results  were  obtained  by  the  simple  expe- 
dient of  adopting  in  every  case  where  single  circuits  had  previously 
been  used,  the  manifold  coil  of  fine  wire  which  Schweigger  had 
employed  to  increase  the  sensibility  of  the  galvanometer.  He 
remarks : 

"Mr.  Sturgeon  of  Woolwich,  who  has  been  perhaps  the  most 
successful  in  these  improvements,  has  shown  that  a  strong  galvanic 
power  is  not  essentially  necessary  even  to  exhibit  the  experiments 
on  the  largest  scale.  -  -  -  Mr.  Sturgeon's  suite  of  apparatus, 
though  superior  to  any  other  as  far  as  it  goes,  does  not  however 
form  a  complete  set:  as  indeed  it  is  plain  that  his  principle  of 
strong  magnets  cannot  be  introduced  into  every  article  required, 
and  particularly  into  those  intended  to  exhibit  the  action  of  the 
earth's  magnetism  on  a  galvanic  current,  or  the  operation  of  two 
conjunctive  wires  on  each  other.  To  form  therefore  a  set  of  instru- 
ments on  a  large  scale  that  will  illustrate  all  the  facts  belonging  to 

*  Trans.  Soc.  Encouragement  Arts,  etc.  1825,  vol.  xliii.  pp.  38-52.  His  battery  (of  a 
single  element)  consisted  "of  two  fixed  hollow  concentric  cylinders  of  thin  copper, 
having  a  movable  cylinder  of  zinc  placed  between  them.  Its  superficial  area  is  only 
130  square  inches,  and  it  weighs  no  more  than  1  Ib.  5  ozs."  Mr.  STURGEON  was  de- 
servedly awarded  the  Silver  Medal  of  the  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  Arts, 
etc.,  "for  his  improved  electro-magnetic  apparatus."  Described  also  in  Annals  of 
Philos.  Nov.  1826,  vol.  xii.  new  series,  pp.  357-361. 


DISCOUESE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  215 

this  science,  with  the  least  expense  of  galvanism,  evidently  requires 
some  additional  modification  of  apparatus,  and  particularly  in  those 
cases  in  which  powerful  magnets  cannot  be  applied.  And  such  a 
modification  appears  to  me  to  be  obviously  pointed  out  in  the  con- 
struction of  Professor  Schweigger's  Galvanic  Multiplier:  the  prin- 
ciples of  this  instrument  being  directly  applicable  to  all  the  experi- 
ments in  which  Mr.  Sturgeon's  improvement  fails  to  be  useful."* 

The  coils  employed  in  the  various  articles  of  apparatus  thus 
improved,  comprised  usually  about  twenty  turns  of  fine  copper  wire 
wound  with  silk  to  prevent  metallic  contact,  the  whole  being  closely 
bound  together.  To  exhibit  for  example  Ampere's  ingenious  and 
delicate  experiment  showing  the  directive  action  of  the  earth  as  a 
magnet  on  a  galvanic  current  when  its  conductor  is  free  to  move, 
(usually  a  small  wire  frame  with  its  extremities  dipping  either  into 
mercury  cups,  or  into  mercury  channels,)  or  its  simpler  modifica- 
tion, the  "ring"  of  De  la  Rive,  (usually  an  inch  or  two  in  diam- 
eter and  made  to  float  freely  with  its  galvanic  element  in  its 
own  bath,)  the  effect  was  strikingly  enhanced  by  Henry's  method 
of  suspending  by  a  silk  thread  a  large  circular  coil  twenty  inches 
in  diameter,  of  many  wire  circuits  bound  together  with  ribbon, — 
the  extremities  of  the  wire  protruding  at  the  lower  part  of  the 
hoop,  and  soldered  to  a  pair  of  small  galvanic  plates; — when  by 
simply  placing  a  tumbler  of  acidulated  water  beneath,  he  caused  the 
hoop  at  once  to  assume  (after  a  few  oscillations)  its  equatorial  posi- 
tion transverse  to  the  magnetic  meridian.  By  a  similar  arrangement 
of  two  circular  coils  of  different  diameters,  one  suspended  within  the 
other,  Ampere's  fine  discovery  of  the  mutual  action  of  two  electric 
currents  on  each  other,  was  as  strikingly  displayed.  Such  was  the 
character  of  demonstration  by  which  the  new  Professor  was  accus- 
tomed to  make  visible  to  his  classes  the  principles  of  electro-magnet- 
ism: and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  in  simplicity,  distinctness,  and 
•efficiency,  such  apparatus  for  the  lecture-room  was  far  superior  to 
.any  of  the  kind  then  existing. 

Should  any  one  be  disposed  to  conclude  that  this  simple  exten- 
sion of  Schweigger's  multiple  coil  was  unimportant  and  unmeri- 
torious,  the  ready  answer  occurs,  that  talented  and  skillful  electri- 

*  T)-ans.  Albany  Institute,  vol.  i.  pp.  22,  23. 


216  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

cians,  laboring  to  attain  the  result,  had  for  six  years  failed  to  make 
such  an  extension.  Nor  was  the  result  by  any  means  antecedently 
assured  by  Schweigger's  success  with  the  galvanometer.  If  Stur- 
geon's improvement  of  economizing  the  battery  size  and  consump- 
tion, by  increasing  the  magnet  factor  (in  those  few  cases  where 
available),  was  well  deserving  of  reward,  surely  Henry's  improve- 
ment of  a  far  greater  economy,  by  increasing  the  circuit  factor 
(entirely  neglected  by  Sturgeon)  deserved  a  still  higher  applause. 

In  a  subsequent  communication  to  Silliman's  Journal,  Henry 
remarks  on  the  results  announced  in  October,  1827:  —  "Shortly 
after  the  publication  mentioned,  several  other  applications  of  the 
coil,  besides  those  described  in  that  paper,  were  made  in  order  to 
increase  the  size  of  electro-magnetic  apparatus,  and  to  diminish 
the  necessary  galvanic  power.  The  most  interesting  of  these  was 
its  application  to  a  development  of  magnetism  in  soft  iron,  much 
more  extensive  than  to  my  knowledge  had  been  previously  effected 
by  a  small  galvanic  element."  And  in  another  later  paper,  he 
repeated  to  the  same  effect :  "  After  reading  an  account  of  the  gal- 
vanometer of  Schweigger,  the  idea  occurred  to  me  that  a  much 
nearer  approximation  to  the  theory  of  Ampere  could  be  attained 
by  insulating  the  conducting-wire  itself,  instead  of  the  rod  to  be 
magnetized;  and  by  covering  the  whole  surface  of  the  iron  with  a 
series  of  coils  in  close  contact." 

The  electro-magnet  figured  and  described  by  Sturgeon  (in  his 
communication  of  November,  1825,)  consisted  of  a  small  bar  or 
stout  iron  wire  bent  into  a  n  or  horse-shoe  form,  having  a  copper 
wire  wound  loosely  around  it  in  eighteen  turns,  with  the  ends  of 
the  wire  dipping  into  mercury-cups  connected  with  the  respective 
poles  of  a  battery  having  130  square  inches  of  active  surface. 
This  was  probably  the  only  electro-magnet  then  in  existence. 

In  June  of  1828,  Henry  exhibited  before  the  Albany  Institute  a 
small-sized  electro-magnet  closely  wound  with  silk-covered  copper 
wire  about  one-thirtieth  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  By  thus  insulat- 
ing the  conducting  wire,  instead  of  the  magnetic  bar  or  core,  he 
was  enabled  to  employ  a  compact  coil  in  close  juxtaposition  from 
one  end  of  the  horse-shoe  to  the  other,  obtaining  thereby  a  much 
larger  number  of  circuits,  and  with  each  circuit  more  nearly  at 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  217 

right  angles  with  the  magnetic  axis.  The  lifting  power  of  this 
magnet  is  not  stated,  though  it  must  obviously  have  been  much 
more  powerful  than  the  one  described  by  Sturgeon. 

In  March  of  1829,  Henry  exhibited  before  the  Institute  a  some- 
what larger  magnet  of  the  game  character.  "A  round  piece  of 
iron  about  one-quarter  of  an  inch  in  diameter  was  bent  into  the 
usual  form  of  a  horse-shoe,  and  instead  of  loosely  coiling  around  it 
a  few  feet  of  wire,  as  is  usually  described,  it  was  tightly  wound 
with  35  feet  of  wire  covered  with  silk,  so  as  to  form  about  400 
turns;  a  pair  of  small  galvanic  plates  which  could  be  dipped  into  a 
tumbler  of  diluted  acid,  was  soldered  to  the  ends  of  the  wire,  and 
the  whole  mounted  on  a  stand.  With  these  small  plates  the  horse- 
shoe became  much  more  powerfully  magnetic  than  another  of  the 
same  size  and  wound  in  the  usual  manner,  by  the  application  of  a  bat- 
tery composed  of  28  plates  of  copper  and  zinc  each  8  inches  square." 
In  this  case  the  coil  was  wound  upon  itself  in  successive  layers. 

To  Henry,  therefore,  belongs  the  exclusive  credit  of  having  first 
constructed  the  magnetic  "  spool "  or  "  bobbin,"  that  form  of  coil 
since  universally  employed  for  every  application  of  electro-magnet- 
ism, of  induction,  or  of  magneto-electrics.  This  was  his  first  great 
contribution  to  the  science  and  to  the  art  of  galvanic  magnetization. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1829,  Henry  still  further  increased  the 
magnetic  power  derived  from  a  single  galvanic  pair  of  small  size, 
by  a  new  arrangement  of  the  coil.  "  It  consisted  in  using  several 
strands  of  wire  each  covered  with  silk,  instead  of  one."  Employ- 
ing a  horse-shoe  formed  from  a  cylindrical  bar  of  iron  half  an  inch 
in  diameter  and  about  10  inches  long,  wound  with  30  feet  of  toler- 
ably fine  copper  wire,  he  found  that  with  a  current  from  only  two 
and  a  half  square  inches  of  zinc,  the  magnet  held  14  pounds. 
Winding  upon  its  arms  a  second  wire  of  the  same  length  (30  feet) 
whose  ends  were  similarly  joined  to  the  same  galvanic  pair,  he 
found  that  the  magnet  lifted  28  pounds.  "  With  a  pair  of  plates 
4  inches  by  6,  it  lifted  39  pounds,  or  more  than  fifty  times  its  own 
weight."*  On  these  results  he  remarks : 

*  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  at  the  time  when  this  experimental  magnet 
was  made,  the  strongest  if  not  the  only  electro-magnet  in  Europe  was  that  of 
STURGEON,  capable  of  supporting  9  pounds,  with  130  square  inches  of  zinc  surface 
in  the  battery. 


218  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

"These  experiments  conclusively  proved  that  a  great  development 
of  magnetism  could  be  effected  by  a  very  small  galvanic  element, 
and  also  that  the  power  of  the  coil  was  materially  increased  by  mul- 
tiplying the  number  of  wires,  without  increasing  the  length  of  each. 
The  multiplication  of  the  wires  increases  the  power  in  two  ways : 
first,  by  conducting  a  greater  quantity  of  galvanism,  and  secondly, 
by  giving  it  a  more  proper  direction ;  for  since  the  action  of  a  gal- 
vanic current  is  directly  at  right  angles  to  the  axis  of  a  magnetic 
needle,  by  using  several  shorter  wires  we  can  wind  one  on  each  inch 
of  the  length  of  the  bar  to  be  magnetized,  so  that  the  magnetism  of 
each  inch  will  be  developed  by  a  separate  wire.  In  this  way  the 
action  of  each  particular  coil  becomes  directed  very  nearly  at  right 
angles  to  the  axis  of  the  bar,  and  consequently  the  effect  is  the  great- 
est possible.  This  principle  is  of  much  greater  importance  when 
large  bars  are  used.  The  advantage  of  a  greater  conducting  power 
from  using  several  wires  might  in  a  less  degree  be  obtained  by  sub- 
stituting for  them  one  large  wire  of  equal  sectional  area ;  but  in  this 
case  the  obliquity  of  the  spiral  would  be  much  greater,  and  conse- 
quently the  magnetic  action  less.7'  * 

But  in  the  following  year,  1830,  Henry  pressed  forward  his 
researches  to  still  higher  results.  Assisted  by  his  friend  Dr.  Philip 
Ten-Eyck,  he  proceeded  to  test  the  power  of  electro-magnetic 
attraction  on  a  larger  scale.  "A  bar  of  soft  iron  2  inches  square 
and  20  inches  long  was  bent  into  the  form  of  a  horse-shoe  9  inches 
high ;  (the  sharp  edges  of  the  bar  being  first  a  little  rounded  by  the 
hammer;)  it  weighed  21  pounds.  A  piece  of  iron  from  the  same 
bar,  weighing  7  pounds,  was  filed  perfectly  flat  on  one  surface  for 
an  armature  or  lifter.  The  extremities  of  the  legs  of  the  horse-shoe 
were  also  truly  ground  to  the  surface  of  the  armature.  Around  this 
horse-shoe  540  feet  of  copper  bell-wire  were  wound  in  nine  coils  of 
60  feet  each ;  these  coils  were  not  continued  around  the  whole  length 
of  the  bar,  but  each  strand  of  wire  (according  to  the  principle  before 
mentioned)  occupied  about  two  inches,  and  was  coiled  several  times 
backward  and  forward  over  itself.  The  several  ends  of  the  wires 


*Silliman's  Am.  Journal  of  Science,  Jan.  1831,  vol.  xix.p.  402.  The  three  names— 
ARAGO,  STURGEON,  and  HENRY,  — may  well  typify  the  infancy,  the  youth,  and  the 
mature  manhood,  of  the  electro-magnet. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  219 

were  left  projecting,  and  all  numbered,  so  that  the  first  and  the  last 
end  of  each"  strand  might  be  readily  distinguished.  In  this  manner 
we  formed  an  experimental  magnet  on  a  large  scale,  with  which 
several  combinations  of  wire  could  be  made  by  merely  uniting  the 
different  projecting  ends.  Thus  if  the  second  end  of  the  first  wire 
be  soldered  to  the  first  end  of  the  second  wire,  and  so  on  through 
all  the  series,  the  whole  will  form  a  continued  coil  of  one  long  wire. 
By  soldering  different  ends,  the  whole  may  be  formed  into  a  double 
coil  of  half  the  length,  or  into  a  triple  coil  of  one-third  the  length, 
&c.  The  horse-shoe  was  suspended  in  a  strong  rectangular  wooden 
frame  3  feet  9  inches  high  and  20  inches  wide.7' 

Two  of  the  wires  (one  from  each  extremity  of  the  legs)  when 
joined  together  by  soldering,  so  as  to  form  a  single  circuit  of  120 
feet,  with  its  extreme  ends  connected  with  the  battery,  produced  a 
lifting-power  of  60  pounds.  The  same  two  wires  being  separately 
connected  with  the  same  battery  (forming  a  double  circuit  of  60  feet 
each),  a  lifting-power  of  200  pounds  was  obtained,  or  more  than 
three  times  the  power  of  the  former  case  with  the  same  wire.  Four 
wires  (two  from  each  extremity  of  the  legs)  being  separately  con- 
nected with  the  battery  (forming  four  circuits)  gave  a  lifting-power 
of  500  pounds.  Six  wires  (three  from  each  leg)  united  in  three 
pairs  (forming  three  circuits  of  180  feet  each)  gave  a  lifting-power 
of  290  pounds.  The  same  six  wires  being  separately  connected  with 
the  battery  in  six  independent  circuits,  produced  a  lifting-power  of 
570  pounds,  or  very  nearly  double  that  of  the  same  wires  in  double 
lengths.  When  all  the  nine  wires  were  separately  attached  to  the 
battery  a  lifting-power  of  650  pounds  was  evoked.  In  all  these 
experiments  "a  small  single  battery  was  used,  consisting  of  two  con- 
centric copper  cylinders,  with  zinc  between  them ;  the  whole  amount 
of  zinc-surface  exposed  to  the  acid  from  both  sides  of  the  zinc  was 
two-fifths  of  a  square  foot;  the  battery  required  only  half  a  pint  of 
dilute  acid  for  its  submersion." 

"In  order  to  ascertain  the  effect  of  a  very  small  galvanic  element 
on  this  large  quantity  of  iron,  a  pair  of  plates  exactly  one  inch  square 
was  attached  to  all  the  wires;  the  weight  lifted  was  85  pounds." 
For  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  maximum  attractive  power  of  this 
magnet,  with  its  nine  independent  coils,  "a  small  battery  formed 


220  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

with  a  plate  of  zinc  12  inches  long  and  6  wide,  and  surrounded  by 
copper,  was  substituted  for  the  galvanic  element  used  in  the  former 
experiments;  the  weight  lifted  in  this  case  was  750  pounds."  *  In 
illustration  of  the  feeble  power  of  the  magnetic  poles  when  exerted 
separately,  it  was  found  that  with  precisely  the  same  arrangements 
giving  a  holding  power  of  750  pounds  to  the  double  contact  arma- 
ture, either  pole  alone  was  capable  of  sustaining  only  5  or  6 
pounds ;  "  and  in  this  case  we  never  succeeded  in  making  it  lift  the 
armature — weighing  7  pounds.  We  have  never  seen  the  circum- 
stance noticed  of  so  great  a  difference  between  a  single  pole  and 
both." 

Henry's  "Quantity"  Magnet  compared  with  MoWs. —  About  the 
same  time  that  Henry  was  developing  this  wonderful  power  in  the 
electro-magnet,  Dr.  Gerard  Moll,  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy 
in  the  University  of  Utrecht,  was  engaged  in  a  similar  research. 
In  a  paper  published  in  the  latter  part  of  1830,  he  states  that  his 
attention  was  drawn  to  the  electro-magnet  of  Sturgeon  in  1828, 
during  a  visit  to  London. f  "This  apparatus  I  saw  in  1828  at  Mr. 
Watkins's,  curator  of  philosophical  apparatus  to  the  London 
University ;  and  the  horse-shoe  with  which  he  performed  the  experi- 
ment, became  capable  all  at  once  of  supporting  about  nine  pounds.  J 
I  immediately  determined  to  try  the  effect  of  a  larger  galvanic 
apparatus  on  a  bent  iron  cylindrical  wire,  and  I  obtained  results 
which  appear  astonishing,  and  are — as  far  as  the  intensity  of  mag- 
netic force  is  concerned,  altogether  new.  I  have  anxiously  looked 
since  that  time  into  different  scientific  continental  and  English  jour- 
nals, without  finding  any  further  attempt  to  extend  and  improve 
Mr.  Sturgeon's  original  experiment."  Moll's  first  magnet,  a 
horse-shoe  formed  of  a  round  bar  of  iron  about  one  inch  thick,  was 
about  eight  and  one-half  inches  in  height,  and  had  a  wrapped  cop- 
per wire  of  about  one-eighth  inch  diameter  coiled  eighty-three 
times  around  it.  The  weight  of  the  horse-shoe  and  wire  was  about 

*Silliman's  Am.  Journal  of  Science,  Jan.  1831,  vol.  xix.  pp.  404,  405. 

^Bibliotheque  Universelle  des  Sciences,  etc.  Sept.  1830,  vol.  xlv.  pp.  19-35.  Also  Edin- 
burgh Journal  of  Science,  Oct.  1830. 

J[At  the  date  referred  to,  Henry  had  already  exhibited  before  the  Albany  Insti- 
tute, a  much  more  powerful  magnet.] 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  221 

five  pounds ;  of  the  armature,  about  one  and  one-fourth  pound ;  and 
with  a  single  galvanic  pair  whose  acting  zinc  surface  was  about 
eleven  square  feet,  the  electro- magnet  supported  about  50  pounds. 
With  cautious  additions,  the  load  could  be  increased  to  75  pounds. 
An  additional  galvanic  pair  of  about  six  square  feet  was  applied 
without  increasing  the  power  of  the  magnet.  Another  horse-shoe 
about  twelve  and  a  half  inches  in  height,  formed  of  a  rod  two 
and  one-fourth  inches  in  diameter,  was  prepared  by  Professor  Moll, 
with  a  brass  wire,  one-eighth  of  an  inch  thick,  wound  around 
it  in  forty-four  coils;  the  weight  of  the  whole  being  about  twenty- 
six  pounds.  With  the  galvanic  element  of  eleven  square  feet, 
this  magnet  lifted  135  pounds.  The  largest  load  this  magnet  was 
afterward  made  to  support  was  154  pounds.* 

As  soon  as  the  account  of  Moll's  magnet  reached  this  country, 
(late  in  October,  or  early  in  November,)  Henry  —  who  had  obtained 
and  had  publicly  exhibited  nearly  two  years  previously,  considera- 
bly higher  results,  and  who  realized  that  there  was  at  least  one  very 
important  difference  of  construction  between  his  own  magnet  and 
that  of  the  Dutch  savant,  felt  it  a  duty  at  once  to  publish  the  details 
of  his  own  researches,  in  a  more  public  form.  He  accordingly 
proceeded  in  the  latter  part  of  November,  1830,  to  write  out  a 
description  of  his  former  experiments  and  results,  which  he  for- 
warded to  Silli  man's  American  Journal  of  Science,  (then  published 
only  quarterly,)  in  time  for  insertion  in  the  forthcoming  number  of 
that  journal,  for  January,  1831 ;  causing  a  copy  of  Professor 
Moll's  paper,  taken  from  Brewster's  Edinburgh  Journal  of  Science 
for  October  1830,  to  be  inserted  in  the  same  number.  At  the  con- 
clusion of  his  own  article  he  remarks :  "  The  only  effect  Professor 
Moll's  paper  has  had  over  these  investigations,  has  been  to  hasten 
their  publication :  the  principle  on  which  they  were  instituted  was 
known  to  us  nearly  two  years  since,  and  at  that  time  exhibited  to 
the  Albany  Institute." 

Comparing  now  Moll's  results  with  Henry's,  —  we  find  that 
Henry's  magnet  of  November  or  December,  1829,  (a  half-inch  bar 

*  Brewster's  Edinburgh  Jour.  Sci.  Oct.  1830,  vol.  iii.  n.  s.  pp.  209-214.  An  account  of 
MOLL'S  magnet  is  also  given  in  the  Annales  de  Chimie  et  de  Physique,  1832,  vol.  L. 
pp.  324-328. 


222  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

of  iron  covered  with  several  strands  of  wire,)  excited  by  a  galvanic 
pair  of  one-sixth  of  a  square  foot  of  zinc  surface,  sustained  39 
pounds,  or  more  than  fifty  times  its  own  weight;  while  Moll's  mag- 
net of  about  double  the  dimensions,  employing  eleven  square  feet 
of  battery,  lifted  only  75  pounds,  or  fifteen  times  its  own  weight. 
That  is,  Henry's  magnet  while  about  only  one-seventh  of  the  weight 
of  Moll's-  (without  their  wrappings)  supported  more  than  half  the 
load  of  the  latter.  Or  comparing  their  larger  magnets, — while 
Moll's  twelve  and  a  half  inch  magnet  (of  two  and  a  quarter  inch 
iron)  lifted  as  its  greatest  eiFort  154  pounds,  (a  result  with  which 
the  author  justly  felt  elated,)  Henry's  nine  and  a  half  inch  magnet 
(of  about  the  same  sized  iron)  lifted  750  pounds;  or  about  five 
times  its  maximum  load.  But  the  most  surprising  contrast  between 
the  two  series  of  experiments,  resulting  from  their  different  systems, 
was  the  enormous  difference  of  battery-power  respectively  applied ; 
—  Moll  pushing  his  up  to  seventeen  square  feet,  —  Henry  reduc- 
ing his  in  the  first  case  to  one-sixth  of  a  square  foot,  and  in  the 
latter  case  obtaining  his  five-fold  duty  with  one-eleventh  of  the 
quantity  of  galvanic  current.  The  philosopher  of  Utrecht,  though 
he  evidently  realized  with  him  of  Albany,  the  importance  of  close- 
winding,  employed  but  a  single  layer  of  coil.  The  latter,  by  means 
of  well-considered  trials  had  ascertained  the  great  increase  of  mag- 
netic force  resulting  from  a  considerable  number  of  coils.  On  the 
theoretical  grounds  assigned  by  Henry  therefore,  Moll's  single 
conducting  wire  of  one-eighth  inch  diameter,  while  electrically 
equivalent  to  some  half  a  dozen  of  Henry's  conducting  wires  (of 
the  same  length  and  collective  weight)  would  be  magnetically  inferior 
thereto — for  equal  iron  cores. 

Notwithstanding  that  Henry's  successes  were  thus  both  earlier 
and  more  brilliant  than  those  of  Moll,  the  two  names  are  usually 
associated  together  by  European  writers  in  treating  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  magnet.* 

* FARADAY  in  subsequently  investigating  the  conditions  of  galvanic  induction, 
referred  with  approbation  to  the  magnets  of  MOL.L  and  HENRY  as  best  calculated 
to  produce  the  effects  sought.  In  constructing  his  duplex  helices  for  observing 
the  direction  of  the  induced  current,  he  however  adopted  HENRY'S  method  by 
winding  twelve  coils  of  copper  wire  each  twenty-seven  feet  long — one  upon  the 
other.  (Phil.  Trans.  Roy.  Soc.  Nov.  24,  1831,  vol.  cxxii.  (for  1832,)  pp.  126,  and  138.  Ex- 
perimental Researches,  etc.  vol.  i.  art.  6,  p.  2;  and  art.  57,  p.  15.) 


DISCOURSE  OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR.  223 

Henry's  "Intensity"  Magnet. — But  Henry's  remarkable  paper 
of  January,  1831,  contains  still  another  original  contribution  to  the 
theory  and  practice  of  electro-magnetics,  no  less  important  than  his 
invention  of  the  magnetic  spool.  While  Moll  had  endeavored  to 
induce  strong  magnetism  by  the  use  of  a  powerful  " quantity"  bat- 
tery, Henry  had  labored  to  derive  from  a  minimum  galvanic  power 
its  maximum  magnetizing  effect:  and  in  his  varied  experiments  on 
these  two  factors,  he  discovered  very  curious  and  unsuspected  rela- 
tions between  them.  A  great  majority  of  investigators — after 
having  definitely  ascertained  the  striking  fact  of  the  great  inferi- 
ority in  magnetizing  power,  of  a  single  long  continuous  coil,  to  a 
proportionally  shortened  circuit  of  multiple  coils, —  would  naturally 
have  been  led  to  abandon  all  further  investigation  of  the  feebler 
system.  Henry  however  recognized  in  this  a  field  of  instructive 
inquiry :  and  for  the  first  time  showed  that  the  coil  of  short  and 
numerous  circuits,  least  affected  by  a  battery  of  many  pairs,  was 
on  the  contrary  most  responsive  to  a  single  galvanic  element ;  while 
the  single  extended  coil,  least  influenced  by  a  single  pair,  was  most 
excited  by  a  battery  of  numerous  elements. 

The  illustrious  Laplace  had  suggested  to  Ampere  in  1820, — 
immediately  upon  the  discovery  of  the  galvanometer,  that  it  would 
be  desirable  to  test  the  deflection  of  the  needle  through  a  long  cir- 
cuit of  conjunctive  wire.  The  latter  having  made  the  experiment 
"  through  a  very  long  conducting  wire,"  (the  length  of  which  is 
not  stated,)  and  having  found  the  result  "  completely  successful," 
had  remarked  in  a  paper  presented  to  the  "  Royal  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences," October  2nd,  1820,  that  by  sending  the  galvanic  current 
through  long  wires  connecting  two  distant  stations,  the  deflections 
of  inclosed  magnetic  needles  would  constitute  very  simple  and  effi- 
cient signals  for  an  instantaneous  telegraph.  * 

Peter  Barlow  the  eminent  English  mathematician  and  magnetician 
taking  up  the  suggestion,  had  endeavored  more  fully  to  test  its  prac- 
ticability. He  has  thus  stated  the  result :  "  In  a  very  early  stage  of 
electro-magnetic  experiments  it  had  been  suggested  that  an  instan- 
taneous telegraph  might  be  established  by  means  of  conducting  wires 
and  compasses.  The  details  of  this  contrivance  are  so  obvious,  and 

*Annales  de  Chimie  et  de  Physique,  1820,  vol.  xv.  pp.  72,  73. 


224  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

the  principle  on  which  it  is  founded  so  well  understood,  that  there 
was  only  one  question  which  could  render  the  result  doubtful ;  and 
this  was, — is  there  any  diminution  of  effect  by  lengthening  the  con- 
ducting wire  ?  It  had  been  said  that  the  electric  fluid  from  a  common 
[tin-foil]  electrical  battery  had  been  transmitted  through  a  wire 
four  miles  in  length  without  any  sensible  diminution  of  effect,  and 
to  every  appearance  instantaneously;*  and  if  this  should  be  found 
to  be  the  case  with  the  galvanic  circuit,  then  no  question  could  be 
entertained  of  the  practicability  and  utility  of  the  suggestion  above 
adverted  to.  I  was  therefore  induced  to  make  the  trial ;  but  I  found 
such  a  sensible  diminution  with  only  200  feet  of  wire,  as  at  once  to 
convince  me  of  the  impracticability  of  the  scheme.  It  led  me  how- 
ever to  an  inquiry  as  to  the  cause  of  this  diminution,  and  the  laws 
by  which  it  is  governed."f 

Henry  in  his  researches  just  referred  to,  (assisted  by  his  friend 
Dr.  Ten-Eyck,)  employed  a  small  electro- magnet  of  one-quarter 
inch  iron  "wound  with  about  8  feet  of  copper  wdre."  Excited 
with  a  single  pair  "composed  of  a  piece  of  zinc  plate  4  inches  by 
7,  surrounded  with  copper,"  (about  56  square  inches  of  zinc  sur- 
face,) the  magnet  sustained  four  pounds  and  a  half.  With  about 
500  feet  of  insulated  copper  wrire  (0.045  of  an  inch  in  diameter) 
interposed  between  the  battery  and  the  magnet,  its  lifting  power 
was  reduced  to  two  ounces ; —  or  about  36  times.  With  double 
this  length  of  wire,  or  a  little  over  1000  feet,  interposed,  the  lifting 
power  of  the  magnet  was  only  half  an  ounce :  thus  fully  confirm- 
ing the  results  obtained  by  Barlow  with  the  galvanometer.  Witli 

*[SALVA  in  1798,  had  successfully  worked  an  electric  telegraph  from  Madrid  to 
Aranjuez,— a  distance  of  26  miles.  (Turnbull's  Electro-Magnetic  Telegraph,  2nd.  ed.  1853, 
pp.  21, 22.)  Frictional  or  mechanical  electricity  does  not  observe  OHM'S  law  of  resist- 
ance. The  only  drawback  to  its  application,  is  the  greatly  increased  difficulty  of 
insulation.] 

I  "On  the  Laws  of  Electro-magnetic  Action."  Edinburgh  PhilosophicalJournal, 
Jan.  1825,  vol.  xii.  pp.  105-113.  In  explanation  and  justification  of  this  discouraging 
judgment  from  so  high  an  authority  in  magnetics,  it  must  be  remembered  that  both 
in  the  galvanometer  and  in  the  electro-magnet,  the  coil  best  calculated  to  produce 
large  effects,  was  that  of  least  resistance;  which  unfortunately  was  not  that  best 
adapted  to  a  long  circuit.  On  the  other  hand,  the  most  efficient  magnet  or  galva- 
nometer was  not  found  to  be  improved  in  result  by  increasing  the  number  of  gal- 
vanic elements.  BARLOW  in  his  inquiry  as  to  the  "law  of  diminution"  was  led 
(erroneously)  to  regard  the  resistance  of  the  conducting  wire  as  increasing  in  the 
ratio  of  the  square  root  of  its  length,  (pp.  110,  111.) 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  225 

a  small  galvanic  pair  2  inches  square,  acting  through  the  same 
length  of  wire  (over  1000  feet,)  "the  magnetism  was  scarcely  ob- 
servable in  the  horse-shoe."  Employing  next  a  trough  battery  of 
25  pairs,  having  the  same  zinc  surface  as  previously,  the  magnet  in 
direct  connection,  (which  before  had  supported  four  and  a  half 
pounds,)  now  lifted  but  seven  ounces; — not  quite  half  a  pound. 
But  with  the  1060  feet  of  copper  wire  (a  little  more  than  one-fifth 
of  a  mile)  suspended  several  times  across  the  large  room  of  the 
Academy,  and  placed  in  the  galvanic  circuit,  the  same  magnet  sus- 
tained eight  ounces :  that  is  to  say,  the  current  from  the  galvanic 
trough  produced  greater  magnetic  effect  after  traversing  this  length 
of  wire,  than  it  did  without  it. 

"  From  this  experiment  it  appears  that  the  current  from  a  gal- 
vanic trough  is  capable  of  producing  greater  magnetic  effect  on 
soft  iron  after  traversing  more  than  one-fifth  of  a  mile  of  inter- 
vening wire  than  when  it  passes  only  through  the  wire  surrounding 
the  magnet.  It  is  possible  that  the  different  states  of  the  trough 
with  respect  to  dryness  may  have  exerted  some  influence  on  this 
remarkable  result ;  but  that  the  effect  of  a  current  from  a  trough  if 
not  increased  is  but  slightly  diminished  in  passing  through  a  long 
wire  is  certain."  And  after  speculating  on  this  new  and  at  the 
time  somewhat  paradoxical  result,  suggesting  that  "a  current  from 
a  trough  possesses  more  'projectile'  force  (to  use  Professor  Hare's 
expression,)  and  approximates  somewhat  in  ' intensity7  to  the  elec- 
tricity from  the  common  machine,"  Henry  concludes:  "But  be 
this  as  it  may,  the  fact  that  the  magnetic  action  of  a  current  from 
a  trough  is  at  least  not  sensibly  diminished  by  passing  through  a  long 
wire,  is  directly  applicable  to  Mr.  Barlow's  project  of  forming  an 
electro-magnetic  telegraph ;  *  and  it  is  also  of  material  consequence 
in  the  construction  of  the  galvanic  coil.  From  these  experiments 
it  is  evident  that  in  forming  the  coil  we  may  either  use  one  very 
long  wire,  or  several  shorter  ones,  as  the  circumstances  may  require : 
in  the  first  case,  our  galvanic  combination  must  consist  of  a  num- 

*[ Really  AMPERE'S  project,  not  BARLOW'S.  In  a  subsequent  paper  HENRY  cor- 
rected this  allusion  by  saying,  "I  called  it  'Barlow's  project,'  when  I  ought  to 
have  stated  that  Mr.  Barlow's  investigation  merely  tended  to  disprove  the  possi- 
bility of  a  telegraph."] 

15 


226  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

ber  of  plates  so  as  to  give  ' projectile7  force;  in  the  second,  it  must 
be  formed  of  a  single  pair."  : 

The  importance  of  this  discovery  can  hardly  be  overestimated. 
The  magnetic  "spool"  of  fine  wire,  of  a  length  —  tens  and  even 
hundreds  of  times  that  ever  before  employed  for  this  purpose, — 
was  in  itself  a  gift  to  science,  which  really  forms  an  epoch  in  the 
history  of  electro-magnetism.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
almost  every  advancement  which  lias  been  made  in  this  fruitful 
branch  of  physics  since  the  time  of  Sturgeon's  happy  improve- 
ment, from  the  earliest  researches  of  Faraday  downward,  has 
been  directly  indebted  to  Henry's  magnets.  By  means  of  the 
Henry  "spool"  the  magnet  almost  at  a  bound  was  developed  from 
a  feeble  childhood  to  a  vigorous  manhood.  And  so  rapidly  and 
generally  was  the  new  form  introduced  abroad  among  experimen- 
ters, few  of  whom  had  ever  seen  the  papers  of  Henry,  that  proba- 
bly very  few  indeed  have  been  aware  to  whom  they  were  really 
indebted  for  this  familiar  and  powerful  instrumentality.  But  the 
historic  fact  remains,  that  prior  to  Henry's  experiments  in  1829, 
no  one  on  either  hemisphere  had  ever  thought  of  winding  the  limbs 
of  an  electro-magnet  on  the  principle  of  the  "  bobbin,"  and  not  till 
after  the  publication  of  Henry's  method  in  January  of  1831,  was 
it  ever  employed  by  any  European  physicist,  f 

But  in  addition  to  this  large  gift  to  science,  Henry  (as  we  have 
seen)  has  the  pre-eminent  claim  to  popular  gratitude  of  having 
first  practically  worked  out  the  differing  functions  of  two  entirely 
different  kinds  of  electro-magnet :  the  one  surrounded  with  numer- 
ous coils  of  no  great  length,  designated  by  him  the  "quantity" 
magnet,  the  other  surrounded  with  a  continuous  coil  of  very  great 
length,  designated  by  him  the  "intensity"  magnet. J  The  latter 

*Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  Jan.  1831,  vol.  xix.  pp.  403,  404. 

fHE^aiY's  "spool"  magnet  appears  to  have  been  introduced  into  France  by 
POTJILL&T  in  1832.  ^'ouvcau  Jlnllcthi  des  Sciences:  publie  par  la  Societe  Philoma- 
tkiue  de  Paris.  Seance  of  2:kl  June,  1S32,  p.  127.  In  Pouillet's  Elements  de  Phy- 
sique Experimental,  third  edition,  published  in  1837,  (vol.  i.  p.  572,)  the  date  of  this 
magnet  is  inadvertently  given  as  1831 ;  an  inaccuracy  which  though  unimportant, 
is  perpetuated  in  every  subsequent  edition  of  that  popular  textrbook.  In  the 
second  edition,  published  in  1832,  no  allusion  to  the  magnet  occurs. 

J"In  describing  the  results  of  my  experiments  the  terms  'intensity'  and 
'quantity'  magnets  were  introduced  to  avoid  circumlocution,  and  were  intended 
to  be  used  merely  in  a  technical  sense.  By  the  intensity  magnet  I  designated  a 


DISCOURSE   OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  227 

and  feebler  system  (requiring  for  its  action  a  battery  of  numerous 
elements,)  was  shown  to  have  the  singular  capability  (never  before 
suspected  nor  imagined)  of  subtile  excitation  from  a  distant  source. 
Here  for  the  first  time  is  experimentally  established  the  important 
principle  that  there  must  be  a  proportion  between  the  aggregate 
internal  resistance  of  the  battery  and  the  whole  external  resistance 
of  the  conjunctive  wire  or  conducting  circuit;  with  the  very  impor- 
tant practical  consequence,  that  by  combining  with  an  "  intensity  " 
magnet  of  a  single  extended  fine  coil  an  "  intensity  "  battery  of 
many  small  pairs,  its  electro-motive  force  enables  a  very  long  con- 
ductor to  be  employed  without  sensible  diminution  of  the  effect.* 
This  was  a  very  important  though  unconscious  experimental  con- 
firmation of  the  mathematical  theory  of  Ohm,  embodied  in  his 
formula  expressing  the  relation  between  electric  flow  and  electric 
resistance,  which  though  propounded  two  or  three  years  previously, 
failed  for  a  long  time  to  attract  any  attention  from  the  scientific 
world,  f 

Never  should  it  be  forgotten  that  he  who  first  exalted  the  "  quan- 
tity" magnet  of  Sturgeon  from  a  power  of  twenty  pounds  to  a 
power  of  twenty  hundred  pounds,  was  the  absolute  CREATOR  of  the 
"  intensity"  magnet;  and  that  the  principles  involved  in  this  crea- 
tion, constitute  the  indispensable  basis  of  every  form  of  the  electro- 

piece  of  soft  iron  so  surrounded  with  wire  that  its  magnetic  power  could  be 
called  into  operation  by  an  'intensity'  battery;  and  by  a  quantity  magnet,  a  piece 
of  iron  so  surrounded  by  a  number  of  separate  coils  that  its  magnetism  could  be 
fully  developed  by  a  'quantity'  battery."  (Smithsonian  Report  for  1857,  p.  103.) 
These  terms  though  somewhat  antiquated  and  generally  discarded  by  recent 
writers,  are  still  very  convenient  designations  of  the  two  classes  of  action,  both 
in  the  battery  and  in  the  magnet.  See  "Supplement,"  NOTE  B. 

*  Beyond  a  certain  maximum  length  there  is  of  course,  a  decrease  of  power  for 
«ach  particular  coil  of  the  "intensity"  magnet,  proportioned  to  the  increased 
resistance  of  a  long  conductor  ;  but  the  magnetizing  effect  has  not  been  found  to 
be  diminished  in  the  ratio  of  its  length.  In  a  very  long  wire,  the  magnetizing 
influence  (with  a  suitable  "  intensity  "  battery)  appears  to  be  inversely  proportioned 
to  the  square  of  the  length  of  the  conductor. 


SIMON  OHM,  professor  in  physics  at  Munich,  published  at  Berlin,  in 
1827,  his  "Galvanische  Kette,  mathematisch  bearbeitet:"  and  in  the  following 
year,  he  published  a  supplementary  paper  entitled  "Nachtrage  zu  seiner  mathe- 
matischen  Bearbeitung  der  galvanischen  Kette  ;"  in  Kastner's  Archiv  fur  gesammte 
Naturlehre:  (8vo.  Niirnberg:)  1828,  vol.  xiv.  pp.  475-493.  Fourteen  years  after  the 
publication  of  the  former  memoir,  this  elaborate  discussion  was  for  the  first  time 
translated  into  English,  by  Mr.  William  Francis.  ("  The  Galvanic  Circuit  inves- 
tigated mathematically."  Taylor's  Scientific  Memoirs,  etc.  London,  1841,  vol.  ii. 
pp.  401-506.) 


228  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

magnetic  telegraph  since  invented.  They  settled  satisfactorily  (in 
Barlow's  phrase)  the  "only  question  which  could  render  the  result 
doubtful;77  and  though  derived  from  the  magnet,  were  obviously 
as  applicable  to  the  galvanometer  needle.*  Professor  Moll,  the 
foremost  of  Europeans  in  the  electro-magnetic  chase,  and  close 
upon  the  heels  of  Henry  in  one  portion  of  his  researches,  pro- 
duced a  powerful  " quantity77  magnet,  but  one  hopelessly  and  radi- 
cally incapacitated  from  any  such  application. 

It  is  idle  to  say  in  disparagement  of  these  successes,  that  in  the 
competitive  race  of  numerous  distinguished  investigators  in  the  field, 
diligently  searching  into  the  conditions  of  the  new-found  agency, 
the  same  results  would  sooner  or  later  have  been  reached  by  others. 
For  of  what  discovery  or  invention  may  not  the  same  be  said? 
Only  those  who  have  sought  in  the  twilight  of  uncertainty,  can 
appreciate  the  vast  economy  of  effort  by  prompt  directions  to  the 
path  from  one  who  has  gained  an  advance.  Not  for  what  might  be, 
but  for  the  actual  bestowal,  does  he  who  first  grasps  a  valuable  truth 
merit  the  return  of  at  least  a  grateful  recognition. 

If  these  results  apparently  so  simple  when  announced  by  Henry, 
have  never  been  justly  appreciated  either  at  home  or  abroad,  no 
such  complaint  ever  escaped  their  author.  No  such  thought  seems 
ever  to  have  occurred  to  his  artless  nature.  For  him  the  one  suffi- 
cient incentive  and  recompense  was  the  advancement  of  himself  and 
others  in  the  knowledge  of  nature7s  laws.  With  the  telegraph  con- 
sciously within  his  grasp,  he  was  well  content  to  leave  to  others  the 
glory  and  the  emoluments  of  its  realization. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1831,  Henry  had  suspended  around 
the  walls  of  one  of  the  upper  rooms  in  the  Albany  Academy,  a  mile 
of  copper  bell-wire  interposed  in  a  circuit  between  a  small  Cruick- 
shanks  battery  and  an  "intensity77  magnet  of  continuous  fine  coil.  A 
narrow  steel  rod  (a  permanent  magnet)  pivoted  to  swing  horizontally 
like  the  compass  needle,  was  arranged  so  that  one  end  remained  in 

*"For  circuits  of  small  resistance,  galvanometers  of  small  resistance  must  be 
used.  For  circuits  of  large  resistance,  galvanometers  of  large  resistance  must  also 
be  used;  not  that  their  resistance  is  any  advantage,  but  because  we  cannot  have  a 
galvanometer  adapted  to  indicate  very  small  currents  without  having  a  very  large 
number  of  turns  in  the  coil,  and  this  involves  necessarily  a  large  resistance." 
Professor  F.  Jenkin,  Electricity  and  Magnetism,  12mo.  London,  and  New  York,  1873, 
chap.  iv.  sect.  8,  p.  89. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  229 

contact  with  a  leg  of  the  soft  iron  core,  while  near  the  opposite  end 
of  the  compass  rod,  a  small  stationary  office-bell  was  placed.  At 
each  excitation  of  the  electro-magnet,  the  compass  rod  or  needle  was 
repelled  from  one  leg  (by  its  similar  magnetism)  and  attracted  by 
the  other  leg,  so  that  its  free  end  tapped  the  bell.  On  a  reversal  of 
the  current,  the  compass  rod  moved  back  to  the  opposite  leg  of  the 
electro-magnet.  This  simple  device  the  Professor  was  accustomed 
to  exhibit  to  his  classes,  during  the  years  1831  and  1832,  in  illus- 
tration of  the  facility  of  transmitting  signals  to  a  distance  by  the 
swift  action  of  electro-magnetism.* 

Henry  regarded  his  "quantity"  magnet  as  being  scientifically 
more  important  than  his  "intensity"  magnet;  and  his  success  in 
constructing  such,  of  almost  incredible  power,  caused  numerous 
requisitions  on  his  skill.  In  April,  1831,  Professor  Silliman  pub- 
lished in  his  Journal  "An  Account  of  a  large  Electro-Magnet  made 
for  the  Laboratory  of  Yale  College,"  under  his  charge.  The  iron 
horseshoe  about  one  foot  high  was  made  from  a  three-inch  octagonal 
bar  30  inches  long ;  and  was  wrapped  with  26  strands  of  copper 
wire  each  about  28  feet  long.  When  duly  excited  by  a  single 
galvanic  element  consisting  of  concentric  cylinders  of  copper  and 
zinc,  presenting  about  five  square  feet  of  active  surface,  the  magnet 
lifted  2,300  pounds,  more  than  a  ton  weight.  For  reversing  the 
polarity  of  the  magnet,  a  duplicate  battery  wras  oppositely  connected 
with  extensions  of  the  ends  of  the  coils,  so  that  either  battery  could 
be  alternately  dipped.  With  a  load  of  56  pounds  suspended  from 
the  armature,  the  poles  of  the  magnet  could  be  so  rapidly  reversed, 
that  the  weight  would  not  fall  during  the  interval  of  inversion. 
Professor  Silliman  remarks  of  the  maker :  a  He  has  the  honor  of 
Laving  constructed  by  far  the  most  powerful  magnets  that  have  ever 
been  known ;  and  his  last,  weighing  (armature  and  all)  t>ut  82  J 
pounds,  sustains  over  a  ton ;  —  which  is  eight  times  more  powerful 
than  any  magnet  hitherto  known  in  Europe."  f  And  Sturgeon 

*  For  an  account  of  HENRY'S  relation  to  the  electro-magnetic  Telegraph,  see  "  Sup- 
plement," NOTE  C. 

tSilliman's  Am.  Jour.  Set.  April,  1831,  vol.  xx.  p.  201.  Relatively,  some  of  HENRY'S 
smaller  magnets  were  many  times  more  powerful  than  this.  A  miniature  one  made 
by  Dr.  Ten-Eyck  under  his  direction,  sustained  200  times  its  own  weight ;  and  one 
still  smaller,  sustained  more  than  400  times  its  own  weight!  .(Sill.  Am.  Jour.  Sri. 
vol.  xix.  p.  407.) 


230  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

(the  true  foster-father  of  the  magnet)  thus  heralds  the  Yale  College 
triumph:  "By  dividing  about  800  feet  of  conducting  wire  into  26 
strands  and  forming  it  into  as  many  separate  coils  around  a  bar  of 
soft  iron  about  60  pounds  in  weight  and  properly  bent  into  a  horse- 
shoe form,  Professor  Henry  has  been  enabled  to  produce  a 
magnetic  force  which  completely  eclipses  every  other  in  the  whole 
annals  of  magnetism;  and  no  parallel  is  to  be  found  since  the 
miraculous  suspension  of  the  celebrated  oriental  impostor  in  his  iron 
coffin."  * 

The  first  Electro-magnetic  Engine. — Among  his  ingenious  applica- 
tions of  the  new  power,  Henry's  invention  of  the  Electro-magnetic 
Engine  should  here  be  noticed.  In  a  letter  to  his  friend  Professor 
Silliman,  he  says :  "  I  have  lately  succeeded  in  producing  motion 
in  a  little  machine,  by  a  power  which  I  believe  has  never  before 
been  applied  in  mechanics,  —  by  magnetic  attraction  and  repulsion." 
The  device  consisted  of  a  horizontal  soft  iron  bar,  about  seven 
inches  long,  pivoted  at  its  middle  to  oscillate  vertically,  and  closely 
wrapped  with  three  strands  of  insulated  copper  wire,  whose  ends 
were  made  by  suitable  extensions  to  project  and  bend  downward  at 
either  end  of  the  beam  in  reversed  pairs,  so  as  conveniently  to  dip 
into  mercury  thimbles  in  connection  with  the  plates  of  the  battery. 
Two  upright  permanent  magnets  having  the  same  polarity,  were 
secured  immediately  under  the  two  ends  of  the  oscillating  bar,, 
but  separated  from  them  by  about  an  inch.  So  soon  as  the  circuit 
was  completed  by  the  depression  of  one  end  of  the  oscillating  electro- 
magnetic bar,  a  repulsion  at  this  end  co-operating  with  an  attraction 
at  the  opposite  end,  caused  immediately  a  contrary  dip  of  the  bar, 
which  by  reversing  the  polarity  of  this  magnetic  beam,  thus  pro- 
duced a  constant  reciprocating  action  and  movement.  The  engine 
beam  oscillated  at  the  rate  of  75  vibrations  per  minute  for  more 
than  an  hour,  or  as  long  as  the  battery  current  was  maintained. f 
This  simple  but  original  device  comprised  the  first  automatic  pole- 

*  Philosoph.  Magazine ;  and  Annals,  March,  1832,  vol.  xi.  p.  199.  HENRY'S  "quantity" 
magnet  was  at  once  adopted  by  FARADAY  in  his  researches,  as  well  as  by  the  conti- 
nental electricians;  and  his  device  of  multiple  coils  is  still  recognized  as  the  system 
best  adapted  for  powerful  magnetization.  See  "  Supplement,"  NOTE  D. 

fSilliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  July,  1831,  vol.  xx.  pp.  340-343. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  231 

changer  or  commutator  ever  applied  to  the  galvanic  battery, — an 
essential  element  not  merely  in  every  variety  of  the  electro-magnetic 
machine,  but  in  every  variety  of  magneto-electric  apparatus,  and  in 
every  variety  of  the  highly  useful  induction  apparatus. 

In  an  interesting  "Historical  Sketch  of  the  rise  and  progress 
of  Electro-magnetic  Engines  for  propelling  machinery ;"  by  the 
distinguished  philosopher  James  P.  Joule,  he  remarks:  "Mr. 
Sturgeon's  discovery  of  magnetizing  bars  of  soft  iron  to  a  con- 
siderable power,  and  rapidly  changing  their  polarity  by  miniature 
voltaic  batteries,  and  the  subsequent  improved  plan  by  Professor 
Henry  of  raising  the  magnetic  action  of  soft  iron, — developed 
new  and  inexhaustible  sources  of  force  which  appeared  easily  and 
extensively  available  as  a  mechanical  agent;  and  it  is  to  the  ingen- 
ious American  philosopher  above  named,  that  we  are  indebted  for 
the  first  form  of  a  working  model  of  an  engine  upon  the  principle 
of  reciprocating  polarity  of  soft  iron  by  electro-dynamic  agency."  : 

In  Henry's  deliberate  contemplation  of  his  own  achievement, 
his  remarkable  sagacity  and  sobriety  of  judgment  were  conspicu- 
ously displayed.  Unperturbed  by  the  enthusiasm  so  natural  to  the 
successful  inventor,  he  carefully  scanned  the  capabilities  of  this  new 
dynamic  agent.  Considering  the  source  of  the  power,  he  arrived 
at  the  conclusion  that  the  de-oxidation  of  metal  necessary  for  the 
battery,  would  require  the  expenditure  of  at  least  as  much  power 
as  its  combustion  in  the  battery  could  refund;  and  that  the  coal 
consumed  in  such  de-oxidation  could  be  much  more  economically 
employed  directly  in  the  work  to  be  done.f  As  the  battery  con- 
sumption moreover  was  found  to  increase  more  rapidly  than  the 
magnetic  power  produced,  he  was  at  once  convinced  that  it  could 

*  Sturgeon's  Annals  of  Electricity,  etc.  March,  1839,  vol.  iii.  p.  430.  STURGEON 
himself  the  first  to  devise  a  rotary  electro-magnetic  engine,  deserves  honorable 
mention  for  correcting  the  statement  of  an  American  writer,  and  declining  his 
mistaken  award  by  frankly  recognizing  HENRY'S  right  to  priority.  (Annals  of 
Electricity,  April,  1839,  vol.  iii.  p.  554.) 

t  These  considerations  have  been  more  than  justified  by  later  comparative 
investigations.  RANKINE  estimates  that  the  consumption  of  one  pound  'of  zinc 
will  not  produce  more  than  one-tenth  the  energy  that  one  pound  of  coal  will ; 
and  that  though  in.  the  efficient  utilization  of  this  energy  it  is  four  times  superior, 
its  useful  work  is  therefore  less  than  half  that  of  coal;  while  its  cost  is  from  forty 
to  fifty  times  greater.  (The  Steam  Engine  and  other  Prime  Movers.  By  W.  J.  M. 
Rankine.  London  and  Glasgow,  1859,  part  iv.  art.  395,  p.  541.) 


232  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

never  supersede  or  compete  with  steam.  *  He  believed  however 
that  the  engine  had  a  useful  future  in  many  minor  applications 
where  economy  was  not  the  most  important  consideration. 

When  sometime  afterward,  a  friend  urged  him  to  secure  patents 
on  his  inventions, — the  "intensity"  electro-magnet  with  its  combi- 
nations, and  the  magnetic  engine  with  its  automatic  pole-changer, 
earnestly  assuring  him  that  either  one  with  proper  management 
would  secure  an  ample  fortune  to  its  owner,  he  firmly  resisted  every 
importunity;  declaring  that  he  would  feel  humilitated  by  any 
attempt  at  monopolizing  the  fruits  of  science,  which  he  thought 
belonged  to  the  world.  And  this  aversion  to  self-aggrandizement 
by  researches  undertaken  for  truth,  was  carried  with  him  through 
life.f 

While  such  disinterestedness  cannot  fail  to  excite  our  admiration, 
it  may  perhaps  be  questioned  whether  in  these  cases  it  did  not  from 
a  practical  point  of  view,  amount  to  an  over-fastidiousness: — 
whether  such  legal  establishment  of  ownership,  shielding  the  pos- 
sessor from  the  occasional  depreciations  of  the  envious,  and  securing 
by  its  more  tangible  remunerations  the  leisure  and  the  means  for 
more  extended  researches,  would  not  have  been  to  science  more 
than  a  compensation  for  the  supposed  sacrifice  of  dignity  by  the 
philosopher.  J 

Nor  did  this  repugnance  to  patenting  arise  (as  it  sometimes  does) 
from  any  theoretical  disapproval  of  the  system.  On  the  contrary, 

*  JAMES  P.  JOULE  (himself  an  inventor  of  an  electro-magnetic  engine)  in  a 
letter  dated  May  28, 1839,  said :  "  I  can  scarcely  doubt  that  electro-magnetism  will 
eventually  be  substituted  for  steam  in  propelling  machinery."  (Sturgeon's 
Annals  of  Electricity,  vol.  iv.  p.  135.)  This  was  some  years  before  he  commenced  his 
investigations  on  the  mechanical,  equivalent  of  heat  and  other  motors.  He  sub- 
sequently estimated  that  the  consumption  of  a  grain  of  zinc  though  forty  times 
more  costly  than  a  grain  of  coal,  produces  only  about  one-eighth  of  the  same 
mechanical  effect. 

f  This  trait  calls  to  mind  Faraday's  avowal  made  nearly  thirty  years  later, 
when  in  a  letter  to  Messrs.  Smith  &  Bentley,  dated  January  3,  1859,  (declining 
their  offer  for  the  publication  of  his  "Juvenile  Lectures,")  he  said:  "In  fact  I 
have  always  loved  science  more  than  money;  and  because  my  occupation  is 
almost  entirely  personal,  I  cannot  afford  to  get  rich."  (Bence  Jones'  Life  of 
Faraday,  vol.  ii.  p.  423.) 

%  Several  hundred  patents  have  since  been  granted  in  this  country  for  ingen- 
ious modifications  of— or  improvements  upon  the  electro-magnetic  telegraph;  and 
probably  a  hundred  for  equally  ingenious  varieties  of  the  electro-magnetic  engine; 
all  of  which  would  have  been  tributary  to  HENRY  as  an  original  patentee. 


DISCOUKSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  233 

he  frequently  expressed  his  strong  conviction  that  a  judicious  code 
of  patent  laws  —  if  faithfully  administered  —  furnishes  the  most 
equitable  method  of  recompensing  meritorious  inventors.  The 
institution  was  a  good  one  —  for  others. 

The  discovery  of  Magneto-electricity.  —  From  the  magnetizing 
influence  of  the  galvanic  current,  physicists  were  almost  inevitably 
led  to  expect  the  converse  reaction ;  and  this  anticipation  appears  to 
have  been  co-eval  with  electro-magnetism.  As  early  as  1820,  the 
illustrious  Augustin  Fresnel  remarked:  "It  is  natural  to  try 
whether  a  magnetic  bar  will  not  produce  a  galvanic  current  in  a 
helical  wire  surrounding  it;"  and  he  made  various  experiments  to 
determine  a  question  which  was  supposed  to  involve  the  soundness 
of  Ampere's  theory.  In  November,  1820,  he  announced  that 
though  he  at  first  supposed  his  attempt  at  the  magneto-electric 
decomposition  of  water  was  partially  successful,  he  was  finally 
satisfied  that  no  decisive  result  was  obtained.* 

Five  years  later,  Faraday  attempted  the  same  experimental 
inquiry ;  and  among  his  earliest  publications  gave  an  account  of  his 
unsuccessful  trials.  After  describing  his  arrangements  he  says: 
"The  magnet  was  then  put  in  various  positions  and  to  different 
extents  into  the  helix,  and  the  needle  of  the  galvanometer  noticed : 
no  effect  however  upon  it  could  be  observed.  The  circuit  was  made 
very  long,  very  short,  of  wires  of  different  metals  and  different 
diameters,  down  to  extreme  fineness,  but  the  results  were  always 
the  same.  Magnets  more  and  less  powerful  were  used,  some  so  strong 
as  to  bend  the  wire  in  its  endeavors  to  pass  round  it.  Hence  it 
appears  that  however  powerful  the  action  of  an  electric  current  may 
be  upon  a  magnet,  the  latter  has  no  tendency  by  re-action  to  diminish 
or  increase  the  intensity  of  the  former ;  a  fact  which  though  of  a 
negative  kind,  appears  to  me  to  be  of  some  importance."f 

Nor  were  American  physicists  discouraged  by  the  records  of  re- 
peated failures :  and  when  the  great  Henry  magnet  was  received 
at  Yale  College,  Professor  C.  U.  Shepard  (chemical  assistant  to 
Professor  Silliman)  at  once  attacked  the  problem  with  this  new 

*Annales  de  Chimie  et  de  Physique,  1820,  vol.  xv.  pp.  219-222. 

t  Quarterly  Journal  of  Science,  etc.  of  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great  Britain,  July, 
1825,  vol.  xix.  p.  338.  This  well  shows  the  danger  of  generalizing  too  broadly  from 
negative  results. 


234  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HEXKY. 

equipment.  He  remarks :  "As  its  magnetic  flow  was  so  powerful, 
I  had  strong  hopes  of  being  able  to  accomplish  the  decomposition 
of  water  by  its  means.  My  experiment  however  proved  unsuccess- 
ful. -  -  -  I  hope  however  to  resume  the  research  hereafter, 
under  more  favorable  circumstances."* 

Henry,  unsatisfied  with  past  efforts,  determined  to  pursue  the 
subject  in  an  exhaustive  series  of  experiments;  and  had  reached 
some  momentary  indications  of  the  galvanometer,  when  his  experi- 
ments were  temporarily  interrupted.  Meanwhile  it  was  announced 
in  May,  1832,  that  Faraday  had  secured  the  long  sought  prize; 
though  the  announcement  was  brief,  and  to  those  eager  for  particu- 
lars, somewhat  disappointing.  Henry  was  accordingly  induced  to 
publish  in  the  following  number  of  Silliman's  Journal  (that  for 
July)  a  sketch  of  his  own  trials  both  before  and  after  the  announced 
discovery.  With  reference  to  Faraday's  discovery  he  remarks: 
"  No  detail  is  given  of  the  experiments,  and  it  is  somewhat  sur- 
prising that  results  so  interesting,  and  which  certainly  form  a  new 
era  in  the  history  of  electricity  and  magnetism,  should  not  have 
been  more  fully  described  before  this  time  in  some  of  the  English 
publications.  The  only  mention  I  have  found  of  them  is  the  fol- 
lowing short  account  from  the  'Annals  of  Philosophy7  for  April, 
under  the  head  of  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Institution. — 'Feb.  17. 
Mr.  Faraday  gave  an  account  of  the  first  two  parts  of  his  researches 
in  electricity ;  namely  volta-electric  induction,  and  magneto-electric 
induction.  -  -  -  If  a  wire  connected  at  both  extremities  with 
a  galvanometer,  be  coiled  in  the  form  of  a  helix  around  a  magnet, 
no  current  of  electricity  takes  place  in  it.  This  is  an  experiment 
which  has  been  made  by  various  persons  hundreds  of  times,  in  the 
hope  of  evolving  electricity  from  magnetism.  But  if  the  magnet 
be-  withdrawn  from  or  introduced  into  such  a  helix,  a  current  of 
electricity  is  produced  while  the  magnet  is  in  motion,  and  is  rendered 
evident  by  the  deflection  of  the  galvanometer.  If  a  single  wire  be 
passed  by  a  magnetic  pole,  a  current  of  electricity  is  induced  through 
it  which  can  be  rendered  sensible/  f 

*Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  April,  1831,  vol.  xx.  p.  201,  foot-note. 

^Philosoph.  Mag.  and  Annals  of  Phil.  April,  1832,  vol.  xi.  pp.  300,  301.  [Although 
FAKADAY'S  first  communication  on  galvanic  induction,  and  on  magneto-elec- 
tricity, was  read  before  the  Royal  Society  November  24,  1831,  the  published  Trans- 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  235 

"  Before  having  any  knowledge  of  the  method  given  in  the  above 
account,  I  had  succeeded  in  producing  electrical  effects  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner,  which  differs  from  that  employed  by  Mr.  Faraday, 
and  which  appears  to  me  to  develop  some  new  and  interesting  facts. 
A  piece  of  copper  wire  about  thirty  feet  long  and  covered  with 
elastic  varnish,  was  closely  coiled  around  the  middle  of  the  soft  iron 
armature  of  the  galvanic  magnet  described  in  vol.  xix  of  the  Ameri- 
can Journal  of  Science,  and  which  when  excited  will  readily  sustain 
between  six  hundred  and  seven  hundred  pounds.  The  wire  was 
wound  upon  itself  so  as  to  occupy  only  about  one  inch  of  the  length 
of  the  armature,  which  is  seven  inches  in  all.  The  armature  thus 
furnished  with  the  wire,  was  placed  in  its  proper  position  across 
the  ends  of  the  galvanic  magnet,  and  there  fastened  so  that  no 
motion  could  take  place.  The  two  projecting  ends  of  the  helix 
were  dipped  into  two  cups  of  mercury,  and  these  connected  with  a 
distant  galvanometer  by  means  of  two  copper  wires  each  about  forty 
feet  long.  This  arrangement  being  completed,  I  stationed  myself 
near  the  galvanometer  and  directed  an  assistant  at  a  given  word  to 
immerse  suddenly  in  a  vessel  of  dilute  acid,  the  galvanic  battery 
attached  to  the  magnet.  At  the  instant  of  immersion  the  north  end 
of  the  needle  was  deflected  30°  to  the  west,  indicating  a  current  of 
electricity  from  the  helix  surrounding  the  armature.  The  effect 
however,  appeared  only  as  a  single  impulse,  for  the  needle  after  a 
few  oscillations  resumed  its  former  undisturbed  position  in  the  mag- 
netic meridian,  although  the  galvanic  action  of  the  battery,  and 
consequently  the  magnetic  power  still  continued.  I  was  however 
much  surprised  to  see  the  needle  suddenly  deflected  from  a  state  of 
rest  to  about  20°  to  the  east,  or  in  a  contrary  direction,  when  the 
battery  was  withdrawn  from  the  acid, — and  again  deflected  to  the 
west  when  it  wras  re-immersed.  This  operation  was  repeated  many 
times  in  succession,  and  uniformly  with  the  same  result,  the  arma- 
ture the  whole  time  remaining  immovably  attached  to  the  poles  of 
the  magnet,  no  motion  being  required  to  produce  the  effect,  as  it  ap- 
peared to  take  place  only  in  consequence  of  the  instantaneous  devel- 

actions  for  1832,  containing  this  memoir,  did  not  reach  this  country  till  more  than  a 
year  later:  so  that  the  meager  abstract  of  the  Royal  Institution  Proceedings  above 
given,  was  the  only  notice  of  this  important  discovery,  here  accessible  for  many 
months.] 


236  MEMORIAL   OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

opment  of  the  magnetic  action  in  one  case  and  the  sudden  cessation 
of  it  in  the  other.  -  -  -  From  the  foregoing  facts  it  appears  that 
a  current  of  electricity  is  produced  for  an  instant  in  a  helix  of  copper 
wire  surrounding  a  piece  of  soft  iron  whenever  magnetism  is  in- 
duced in  the  iron  ;  and  a  current  in  an  opposite  direction  when  the 
magnetic  action  ceases ;  also  that  an  instantaneous  current  in  one  or 
the  other  direction  accompanies  every  change  in  the  magnetic  in- 
tensity of  the  iron. 

"Since  reading  the  account  before  given  of  Mr.  Faraday's 
method  of  producing  electrical  currents,  I  have  attempted  to  com- 
bine the  effects  of  motion  and  induction."  No  increase  of  effect 
was  however  observable.  On  comparing  the  two  methods  sepa- 
rately it  was  found  that  while  the  sudden  introduction  of  the  end 
of  a  magnetized  bar  within  the  helix  connected  with  the  galva- 
nometer, deflected  the  needle  seven  degrees,  the  sudden  magnetiza- 
tion of  the  bar  when  within  the  helix  deflected  the  needle  thirty 
degrees.  A  cylindrical  iron  bar  was  made  to  rotate  rapidly  on  its 
axis  within  a  stationary  helix,  by  means  of  a  turning  lathe,  but  no 
result  followed. 

In  the  following  month  (June)  by  employing  an  armature  of 
horse-shoe  form  (admitting  longer  coils),  Henry  succeeded  in  ob- 
taining vivid  sparks  from  the  magnet.  "The  poles  of  the  magnet 
were  connected  by  a  single  rod  of  iron  bent  into  the  form  of  a 
horse-shoe,  and  its  extremities  filed  perfectly  flat  so  as  to  come  in 
perfect  contact  with  the  faces  of  the  poles :  around  the  middle  of 
the  arch  of  this  horse-shoe,  two  strands  of  copper  wire  were  tightly 
coiled  one  over  the  other.  A  current  from  one  of  these  helices 
deflected  the  needle  one  hundred  degrees,  and  when  both  were  used, 
the  needle  was  deflected  with  such  force  as  to  make  a  complete 
circuit.  But  the  most  surprising  effect  was  produced  when  instead 
of  passing  the  current  through  the  long  wires  to  the  galvanometer, 
the  opposite  ends  of  the  helices  were  held  nearly  in  contact  with 
each  other,  and  the  magnet  suddenly  excited :  in  this  case  a  small 
but  vivid  spark  was  seen  to  pass  between  the  ends  of  the  wires,  and 
this  effect  was  repeated  as  often  as  the  state  of  intensity  of  the 
magnet  was  changed.  -  -  -  It  appears  from  the  May  number 
of  the  'Annals  of  Philosophy/  that  I  have  been  anticipated  in  this 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  237 

experiment  of  drawing  sparks  from  the  magnet  by  Mr.  James  D. 
Forbes  of  Edinburgh,  who  obtained  a  spark  on  the  30th  of  March  :* 
my  experiments  being  made  during  the  last  two  weeks  of  June. 
A  simple  notification  of  his  result  is  given,  without  any  account  .of 
the  experiment,  which  is  reserved  for  a  communication  to  the  Royal 
Society  of  Edinburgh.  My  result  is  therefore  entirely  independent 
of  his,  and  was  undoubtedly  obtained  by  a  different  process."  f 

Henry's  gratification  at  the  acquisition  of  the  new  insight  into 
natural  law,  quite  absorbed  all  sentiment  of  personal  pride  in  its 
independent  attainment;  and  his  appreciation  and  congratulation 
of  Faraday  as  the  first  discoverer  of  magneto-electricity,  were 
hearty  and  unreserved.  He  was  also  particular  always  to  assign  to 
Faraday  the  first  observation  of  the  curious  phenomena  of  mo- 
mentary galvanic  induction;  although  himself  an  independent 
discoverer  of  the  fact. 

Discovery  of  the  "Extra  Current." — In  the  course  of  these  experi- 
ments he  made  a  very  important  original  observation  on  a  peculiar 
case  of  self-induction,  whereby  he  was  enabled  to  convert  a  galvanic 
current  of  "quantity"  into  one  of  "intensity."  This  entirely  new 
result  seemed  to  contradict  all  previous  experience.  He  thus  con- 
cludes his  paper: 

"  I  may  however  mention  one  fact  which  I  have  not  seen  noticed 
in  any  work,  and  which  appears  to  me  to  belong  to  the  same  class  of 
phenomena  as  those  above  described.  It  is  this: — when  a  small 
battery  is  moderately  excited  by  diluted  acid  and  its  poles  (which 
should  be  terminated  by  cups  of  mercury)  are  connected  by  a  cop- 
per wire  not  more  than  a  foot  in  length,  no  spark  is  perceived  when 
the  connection  is  either  formed  or  broken :  but  if  a  wire  thirty  or 
forty  feet  long  be  used  (instead  of  the  short  wire),  though  no  spark 
will  be  perceptible  when  the  connection  is  made,  yet  when  it  is 
broken  by  drawing  one  end  of  the  wire  from  its  cup  of  mercury,  a 
vivid  spark  is  produced.  -  The  effect  appears  somewhat 

increased  by  coiling  the  wire  into  a  helix :  it  seems  also  to  depend 
in  some  measure  on  the  length  and  thickness  of  the  wire.  I  can 

*  Philosoph.  Mag.  and  Annals,  May,  1832,  vol.  xi.  pp.  359,  360. 
fSilliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  July,  1832,  vol.  xxii.  pp.  403-408. 


238  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH   HENRY. 

account  for  these  phenomena  only  by  supposing  the  long  wire  to 
become  charged  with  electricity  which  by  its  reaction  on  itself  pro- 
jects a  spark  when  the  connection  is  broken.7'*  This  is  the  earliest 
notice  of  the  curious  phenomenon  of  self-induction  in  an  electric 
discharge. 

Election  as  Professor  at  Princeton. — The  Trustees  of  the  College 
of  New  Jersey  at  Princeton,  were  about  this  time  in  search  of  a  Pro- 
fessor to  fill  the  chair  of  Natural  Philosophy  in  that  College,  made 
vacant  by  the  resignation  of  Professor  Henry  Vethake,  who  had 
accepted  a  Professorship  of  Natural  Philosophy  in  the  recently 
established  University  of  the  City  of  New  York.  Professor  Henry 
had  already  won  considerable  reputation  as  a  lecturer  and  teacher, 
no  less  than  as  an  experimental  physicist.  Professor  Benjamin 
Silliman  of  Yale  College,  urging  his  appointment,  wrote:  "Henry 
has  no  superior  among  the  scientific  men  of  the  country."  And 
Professor  James  Renwick  of  Columbia  College  (New  York)  still 
more  emphatically  added:  "He  has  no  equal." 

Professor  Henry  was  unanimously  elected  by  the  Trustees  ;f 
and  he  accepted  the  appointment :  although  strongly  attached  to  his 
first  Academy,  endeared  to  him  by  early  memories,  by  six  years  of 
successful  labors,  and  by  the  warm  regard  of  all  his  associates.  May 
it  not  be  added  that  his  residence  at  the  capital  of  the  State  of  New 
York  was  further  endeared  to  him  by  life's  romance, — a  most  con- 
genial and  happy  marriage  contracted  in  1830. 

ELECTRICAL   RESEARCHES   AT  PRINCETON :   FROM    1833   TO   1842. 

In  November,  1832,  Henry  left  the  scene  of  his  early  scientific 
triumphs,  the  Albany  Academy,  and  removed  to  Princeton  with 
his  family.  For  a  year  or  two  he  gave  his  whole  attention  and 
exertions  to  the  duties  of  exposition  and  instruction ;  and  during  Dr. 
Torrey's  visit  to  Europe  in  1833,  at  the  Doctor's  request,  Profes- 
sor Henry  filled  ad  interim  his  chair  of  Chemistry,  Mineralogy, 


*Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  July,  1832,  vol.  xxii.p.  408. 

fDr.  MACLEAN,  connected  with  the  Faculty  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey  at  Prince- 
ton for  fifty  years,  and  for  fourteen  years  its  venerable  president,  in  his  History  of 
the  College  (2  vols.  8vo.  Philadelphia,  1877,)  gives  a  very  interesting  account  of  the 
appointment  and  election  of  JOSEPH  HENBY  as  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  in 
1832,  vol.  ii.  pp.  288-291. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  239 

and  Geology.  These  occupations  left  him  no  leisure  for  the  pursuit 
of  original  research.  He  subsequently  gave  lectures  on  Astronomy, 
and  also  on  Architecture. 

In  1834,  Henry  constructed  for  the  Laboratory  of  his  College 
an  original  form  of  galvanic  battery;  so  arranged  as  to  bring  into 
action  any  desired  number  of  elements,  from  a  single  pair  to  eighty- 
eight.  Each  zinc  plate  9  inches  wide  and  12  inches  deep  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  copper  case  open  at  top  and  bottom,  and  giving  thus 
one  and  a  half  square  feet  of  efficient  surface.  Eleven  of  these,  in 
eleven  separate  cells,  formed  a  sub-battery;  and  eight  of  these  were 
grouped  together  by  means  of  adjustable  conductors,  so  as  to  form 
from  the  whole  a  single  battery.  By  means  of  a  crank  and  windlass 
shaft  in  proper  connection,  any  one  or  more  of  the  eight  sub-batteries 
could  be  immersed  or  disengaged,  and  if  desired,  a  single  cell  alone 
could  be  charged.  By  another  arrangement  of  adjustable  conduct- 
ors, all  the  zinc  plates  could  be  directly  connected  together,  and  all 
the  copper  plates  together,  after  the  plan  of  Dr.  Hare's  "calori- 
motor"  battery;  thus  giving  the  " quantity "  effect  due  to  a  single 
element  of  132  square  feet  of  zinc  surface,  or  of  any  smaller  area 
desired.  As  the  author  remarks  concerning  its  various  arrange- 
ments, "  they  have  been  adopted  in  most  cases  after  several  experi- 
ments and  much  personal  labor."  A  detailed  account  of  this  battery 
was  given  in  a  communication  read  January  16th,  1835,  before  the 
American  Philosophical  Society  (of  which  he  had  recently  been 
elected  a  member),  and  was  published  in  its  Transactions.* 

Electrical  Self-induction. —  Meanwhile  he  had  been  engaged  in 
his  brief  intervals  of  relaxation  from  his  exacting  professional  cares 
during  the  past  year,  in  repeating  and  extending  his  interesting  obser- 
vations (commenced  at  Albany  in  1832),  on  the  remarkable  intensi- 
fying influence  of  a  long  conductor,  and  especially  of  a  spiral  one, 
when  interposed  in  a  galvanic  circuit  of  a  single  pair,  or  a  battery 
of  low  "intensity."  A  verbal  communication  on  this  curious  form 
of  "induction,"  was  made  to  the  Society  on  the  same  occasion  as 
the  description  of  his  battery,  and  was  illustrated  by  experiments 
exhibited  before  the  Society. 

*  Trans.  Am.  Philos.  Soc.  vol.  v.  (n.  s.)  art.  ix.  pp.  217-222. 


240  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

Faraday  in  his  "eighth  series  of  Researches"  (read  before  the 
Royal  Society  June  5th,  1834),  pointed  out  very  fully  the  differing 
actions  of  a  single  galvanic  element  giving  a  "  quantity "  current, 
and  of  a  series  of  elements  giving  an  "  intensity "  current :  *  thus 
entirely  confirming  the  results  obtained  by  Henry  more  than  three 
years  previously. 

In  the  Philosophical  Magazine  for  November,  1834,  appeared  a 
paper  by  Faraday,  "On  a  peculiar  condition  of  electric  and 
magneto-electric  Induction :"  in  which  he  notices  as  a  remarkable 
fact,  that  while  a  short  circuit  wire  from  a  single  galvanic  element, 
gives  little  or  no  visible  spark,  a  long  conductor  gives  a  very  sen- 
sible spark.  "If  the  connecting  wire  be  much  lengthened,  then 
the  spark  is  much  increased."  f  I11  his  interesting  research,  Faraday 
appears  to  have  entirely  overlooked  Henry's  earlier  labors  in  the 
same  field; — as  contrary  to  his  usual  custom,  he  makes  no  allusion 
to  the  same  results  having  been  obtained,  and  published  in  Silliman's 
Journal  two  years  and  a  half  before.  J 

These  observations  were  made  by  Faraday  the  subject  of  his 
"ninth  series  of  Researches,"  in  a  communication  "On  the  influence 
by  induction  of  an  electric  current  on  itself:"  read  before  the  Royal 
Society  January  29th,  1835.  In  this  paper  he  states:  "The  inquiry 
arose  out  of  a  fact  communicated  to  me  by  Mr.  Jenkin, —  which  is 
as  follows:  If  an  ordinary  wire  of  short  length  be  used  as  the 
medium  of  communication  between  two  plates  of  an  electro-motor 
consisting  of  a  single  pair  of  metals,  no  management  will  enable 
the  experimenter  to  obtain  an  electric  shock  from  this  wire :  but  if 
the  wire  which  surrounds  an  electro-magnet  be  used,  a  shock  is  felt 
each  time  the  contact  with  the  electro-motor  is  broken."  Having 
varied  the  experiment,  Faraday  adds:  "There  was  no  sensible  spark 
on  making  contact,  but  on  breaking  contact  there  was  a  very  large 
and  bright  spark,  with  considerable  combustion  of  the  mercury." 
He  found  a  similar  result  with  the  wire  helix  alone, —  without  its 
magnetic  core.  "The  power  of  producing  these  phenomena  exists 
therefore  in  the  simple  helix,  as  well  as  in  the  electro-magnet, 

*PMl.  Trans.  Roy.  Soc.  June  5, 1834,  vol.  cxxiv.  arts.  990-994,  pp.  455,  456.  Experi- 
mental Researches  in  Electricity,  vol.  i.  pp.  301,  302. 

fi.  &  E.  Philosoph.  Mag.  Nov.  1834,  vol.  v.  pp.  351,  352. 

I  Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  July,  1832,  vol.  xxii.  p.  408,  above  quoted.  , 


DISCOUESE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  241 

although  by  no  means  in  the  same  high  degree.''  With  continuous 
straight  wire  of  the  same  length,  he  obtained  a  similar  effect, —  "yet 
not  so  bright  as  that  from  the  helix."  "  When  a  short  wire  is  used, 
all  these  effects  disappear;"  although  there  is  undoubtedly  a  greater 
"quantity"  of  electric  current  in  the  shorter  wire;  thus  giving  "the 
strange  result  of  a  diminished  spark  and  shock  from  the  strong 
current,  and  increased  effects  from  the  weak  one."  * 

While  Henry  derived  only  satisfaction  from  these  extended 
verifications  of  his  own  observations,  by  one  whom  he  had  accus- 
tomed himself  to  look  up  to  with  admiration  and  regard,  Dr.  A. 
Dallas  Bache,  his  attached  friend,  then  Professor  of  Natural 
Philosophy  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, — more  jealous  than 
himself  of  his  scientific  fame,  strongly  urged  and  insisted  that  he 
should  immediately  publish  an  account  of  his  later  researches. 
Henry  accordingly  sent  to  the  American  Philosophical  Society  a 
memoir  (comprising  the  details  of  his  recent  verbal  communication) 
"  On  the  Influence  of  a  Spiral  Conductor  in  increasing  the  Inten- 
sity of  Electricity  from  a  galvanic  arrangement  of  a  Single  pair, 
etc.,"  which  was  read  before  the  Society,  February  6th,  1835. 

After  citing  his  former  paper  of  July,  1832,  the  writer  remarks 
that  he  had  been  able  during  the  past  year  to  extend  his  experi- 
ments on  the  curious  phenomenon.  "These  though  not  so  complete 
as  I  could  wish,  are  now  presented  to  the  Society  with  the  belief 
that  they  will  be  interesting  at  this  time  on  account  of  the  recent 
publication  of  Mr.  Faraday  on  the  same  "subject."  He  then 
relates  that  employing  a  single  pair  of  his  battery  (comprising  one 
and  a  half  square  feet  of  zinc  surface),  he  found  as  in  his  earlier 
experiment  in  1832,  that  the  poles  being  connected  by  a  piece  of 
copper  bell-wire  five  inches  long,  no  spark  was  given  on  making  or 
breaking  contact.  Fifteen  feet  of  interposed  wire  gave  a  very 
feeble  spark;  and  with  successive  additions  of  fifteen  feet,  the  effect 
increased  until  with  120  feet  the  maximum  spark  appeared  to  be 
reached,  and  beyond  this  there  was  no  perceptible  increase;  while 
with  double  this  length  (or  240  feet)  there  seemed  to  be  a  diminu- 

*PML  Trans.  Roy.  Soc.  Jan.  29, 1835,  vol.  cxxv.  articles  1061-1067,  and  1073,  pp.  41-45. 
Experimental  Researches  in  Electricity,  vol.  i.  pp.  324-328.  This  memoir  did  not  reach 
this  country,  of  course,  till  a  year  later. 

16 


242  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

tion  of  intensity.  From  various  trials  the  inference  was  drawn 
that  the  length  .required  for  maximum  effect  varied  with  the  size  of 
the  galvanic  element.  Thicker  wires  of  the  same  length  produced 
greater  effect,  depending  in  some  degree  on  the  size  of  the  battery. 
A  wire  of  forty  feet  when  coiled  into  a  cylindrical  helix  "gave  a 
more  intense  spark  than  the  same  wire  uncoiled. "  A  ribbon  of 
sheet  copper  about  an  inch  wide  and  twenty-eight  feet  long,  being 
covered  with  silk  and  coiled  into  a  flat  spiral  —  like  a  watch 
spring — (after  the  plan  of  Dr.  Ritchie)  gave  a  vivid  spark  with  a 
loud  snap.  When  uncoiled,  it  produced  a  much  feebler  spark. 
With  the  insulated  copper  ribbon  folded  in  its  middle,  and  the 
double  thickness  coiled  into  a  flat  spiral,  there  was  no  spark  what- 
ever, although  the  same  ribbon  unrolled  gave  a  feeble  spark :  thus 
showing  that  the  induction  of  the  current  upon  itself  was  neutral- 
ized by  flowing  equally  in  opposite  directions  in  the  double  spiral. 
With  a  larger  copper  ribbon  one  inch  and  a  half  wide,  and  96  feet 
long  (weighing  15  pounds),  spirally  coiled,  the  snap  of  the  spark 
could  be  heard  in  an  adjoining  room  with  the  door  closed.  Wrant 
of  material  prevented  the  result  being  pushed  further,  so  as  to 
ascertain  the  range  of  maximum  effect  with  this  form  of  conductor. 
With  increased  battery  surface,  the  effect  was  also  increased ;  so  that 
with  eight  elements  of  his  battery  arranged  as  a  single  pair  (of  12 
square  feet)  the  spark  on  breaking  contact  "resembled  the  discharge 
of  a  small  Leyden  jar  highly  charged."  With  the  flat  spiral,  no 
increase  of  effect  was  observable  on  the  introduction  of  a  soft  iron 
core  into  the  axis  of  the  spiral,  forming  a  magnet.  With  a  helical 
or  cylindrical  coil  about  nine  inches  long,  enclosing  an  iron  core, 
"the  spark  appeared  a  little  more  intense  than  without  the  iron." 
The  inference  is  also  drawn  "  from  these  experiments,  that  some  of 
the  effects  heretofore  attributed  to  magneto-electric  action  are 
chiefly  due  to  the  reaction  on  each  other  of  the  several  spirals  of 
the  coil  which  surround  the  magnet." 

In  these  researches  it  was  found  that  when  the  two  plates  of  a 
single  pair  were  placed  even  fourteen  inches  apart  in  an  open  trough 
of  diluted  acid,  "although  the  electrical  intensity  in  this  case  must 
have  been  very  low,  yet  there  was  but  little  reduction  in  the  appar- 
ent intensity  of  the  spark."  It  was  also  shown  that  "the  spiral 


DISCOURSE   OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  243 

conductor  produces  however,  little  or  no  increase  of  effect  when 
introduced  into  a  galvanic  circuit  of  considerable  intensity.'7  When 
for  example  an  "  intensity "  battery  of  two  Cruickshanks  troughs, 
each  containing  fifty-six  elements  was  employed  with  the  larger 
copper  spiral,  "no  greater  effect  was  perceived  than  with  a  short 
thick  wire:"  in  either  case,  only  a  feeble  spark  being  given.*  An 
abstract  of  the  results  thus  announced,  (and  which  were  obtained 
by  Henry  during  the  summer  of  1834,)  was  communicated  by 
Dr.  A.  D.  Bache,  as  a  Secretary  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society,  to  the  Franklin  Journal,  in  order  to  give  these  interesting 
facts  an  earlier  currency.f  The  date  of  original  discovery  was 
however  so  well  established,  that  this  friendly  effort  was  scarcely 
necessary.  J 

Combined  Circuits. — In  1835,  wires  had  been  extended  across 
the  front  campus  of  the  college  grounds  at  Princeton  from  the  upper 
story  of  the  library  building  to  the  Philosophical  Hall  on  the  oppo- 
site side,  through  which  signals  were  occasionally  sent,  distinguished 
by  the  number  of  taps  of  the  electro-magnetic  bell,  as  first  exhib- 
ited five  years  previously  in  the  hall  of  the  Albany  Academy.  It 
has  already  been  noticed,  that  contrary  to  all  the  antecedent  expec- 
tations of  physicists,  Henry  had  established  the  fact  that  the  most 
powerful  form  of  magnet  (designated  by  him  the  "quantity" 
magnet)  is  not  the  form  best  adapted  to  distant  action  through 
an  extended  circuit.  The  ingenious  idea  occurred  to  him  that 
notwithstanding  this  fundamental  fact,  it  would  be  quite  easy  to 
combine  the  two  systems  so  as  to  enable  an  operator  to  produce  the 
most  energetic  mechanical  effects,  at  almost  any  required  distance. 
It  is  simply  necessary  to  employ  with  the  distant  "intensity" 
magnet  an  oscillating  armature  with  a  suitable  prolongation  so 
arranged  as  to  open  and  close  the  short  circuit  of  an  adjoining 

*  Trans.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  v.  (n.  s.)  art.  x.  pp.  223-231. 

^Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  March,  1835,  vol.  xv.  pp.  169, 170.  See  "Supple- 
ment," NOTE  E. 

JM.  BECQTJEREL,  in  his  elaborate  Treatise  on  Electricity,  in  the  chapter  on  "The 
influence  of  an  electric  current  on  itself  by  induction,"  says  with  regard  to  the 
increase  of  tension  in  a  feeble  current  when  passing  through  a  long  spiral  conductor, 
"The  effects  observed  in  these  circumstances  appear  to  have  been  noticed  for  the 
first  time  by  Professor  HENRY."  (Traits  experimental  de  v£lectricite  ct  du  Magnetisme, 
Svo.  7  vols.  Paris,  1824-1840,  vol.  v.  art.  12G1,  p.  231.) 


244  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH   HENRY. 

"quantity"  magnet  of  any  practicable  power: — a  work  which 
indeed  could  be  accomplished  by  the  mere  swing  of  the  most  deli- 
cate galvanometer  needle.  Professor  Henry  had  constructed  for 
his  own  laboratory  a  large  electro-magnet  designed  to  surpass  the 
celebrated  magnet  made  for  Yale  College;  and  with  it  he  was  ena- 
bled to  exhibit  to  his  class,  by  employing  a  small  portion  of  his 
" quantity"  battery,  an  easy  lifting  power  of  more  than  three  thou- 
sand pounds.*  Such  was  the  mechanical  agency  he  called  into  action 
through  his  telegraphic  circuit,  by  simply  lifting  its  galvanic  wire 
from  a  mercury  thimble,  or  by  again  dipping  it  into  the  same.  This 
combination  has  since  found  an  important  application ;  its  principle 
underlying  all  the  various  forms  and  uses  of  the  "relay"  magnet, 
and  of  the  "receiving"  magnet  and  local  battery,  since  employed. 

Visit  to  Europe. — In  order  to  give  Professor  Henry  a  much- 
needed  rest  from  his  diligent  services  and  close  application  during 
the  last  four  years,  the  Trustees  of  his  College  liberally  allowed 
him  a  year's  absence  with  full  salary:  thus  affording  him  for  the 
first  time  a  long  coveted  opportunity  of  visiting  Europe. 

In  February  of  1837,  in  company  with  his  valued  and  faithful 
friend,  Professor  Bache,  he  arrived  in  England;  where  the  two 
American  physicists  formed  ready  and  lasting  intimacies  with  some 
of  the  most  distinguished  worthies  of  Great  Britain.  Everywhere 
received  with  courteous  and  cordial  consideration,  they  both  ever 
carried  with  them  agreeable  memories  of  their  holiday  sojourn  abroad. 

In  London,  many  pleasant  interviews  with  Faraday,  formed  a 
memorable  circumstance.  Wheatstone,  then  Professor  of  Experi- 
mental Philosophy  in  King's  College,  was  engaged  in  developing  his 
system  of  needle  telegraph,  and  he  unfolded  freely  to  his  visitors 
his  numerous  projects;  and  particularly  his  arrangement  of  sup- 
plementary local  circuit  from  an  additional  battery,  for  sounding 
an  electro-magnetic  signal,  by  being  brought  into  action  by  a  move- 
ment from  the  main  line  circuit,  f  Henry  had  then  the  pleasure 

*  It  is  said  that  this  magnet  has  been  made  to  sustain  3,500  pounds.  (Turnbull's 
Electro-Magnetic  Telegraph,  2nd  ed.  1853,  p  49.) 

t  This  was  early  in  April,  1837.  (Smithsonian  Report  for  1857,  p.  111.)  Two  months 
later,  or  June  12th,  1837,  WHEATSTONE  in  conjunction  with  W.  F.  COOKE  had  secured 
a  patent  on  his  system  of  telegraph,  including  the  combination  of  circuits. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  245 

of  detailing  to  him  his  own  similar  combination  of  two  electro- 
magnetic circuits,  experimentally  tried  more  than  a  year  previously.* 

Nearly  a  year  was  employed  in  foreign  travel,  most  pleasantly 
and  beneficially  both  for  mind  and  body:  the  greater  portion  of  the 
time  however  being  spent  in  London,  in  Paris,  (where  Henry 
formed  the  acquaintance  of  Arago,  Becquerel,  De  la  Rive,  Biot, 
Oay-Lussac,  and  other  celebrities,)  and  in  Edinburgh,  where  he  also 
found  a  galaxy  of  eminent  and  congenial  minds. 

In  September  of  the  same  year  (1837)  he  attended  the  meeting 
of  the  British  Association  at  Liverpool;  where  being  invited  to 
speak,  he  made  a  brief  communication  on  some  electrical  researches 
in  regard  to  the  phenomenon  known  as  the  "  lateral  discharge :"  — a 
study  to  which  he  had  been  led  by  some  remarks  of  Dr.  Roget  on 
the  subject.  "The  result  of  the  analysis  was  in  accordance  with  an 
opinion  of  Biot — that  the  lateral  discharge  is  due  only  to  the  escape 
of  the  small  quantity  of  redundant  electricity  which  always  exists 
on  one  side  or  the  other  of  a  jar,  and  not  to  the  whole  discharge." 
Hence  we  could  increase  or  diminish  the  lateral  action  by  any  means 
which  affect  the  quantity  of  free  electricity:  —  as  by  "an  increase 
of  the  thickness  of  the  glass,  or  by  substituting  for  the  small  knob 
of  the  jar,  a  large  ball.  But  the  arrangement  which  produces  the 
greatest  effect  is  that  of  a  long  fine  copper  wire  insulated, — parallel 
to  the  horizon,  and  terminated  at  each  end  by  a  small  ball.  When 
sparks  are  thrown  on  this  from  a  globe  of  about  a  foot  in  diameter, 
the  wire  at  each  discharge  becomes  beautifully  luminous  from  one 
end  to  the  other,  even  if  it  be  a  hundred  feet  long :  rays  are  given 
off  on  all  sides  perpendicular  to  the  axis  of  the  wire :" — forming  a 
continuous  electrical  brush.  It  was  also  stated  "that  the  same 
quantity  of  electricity  could  be  made  to  remain  on  the  wire,  if  grad- 
ually communicated  [by  a  point]  ;  but  when  thrown  on  in  the  form 
of  a  spark,  it  is  dissipated  as  before  described :" — as  though  possess- 
ing a  kind  of  momentum.  When  two  or  more  wires  are  arranged 
in  parallel  lines  (in  electrical  connection),  only  the  outer  sides  of  the 

*"  I  informed  him  that  I  had  devised  another  method  of  producing  effects  some- 
what similar:  this  consisted  in  opening  the  circuit  of  my  large  quantity  magnet  at 
Princeton,  when  loaded  with  many  hundred  pounds  weight,  by  attracting  upward 
a  small  piece  of  movable  wire  with  a  small  intensity  magnet  connected  with  a  long 
wire  circuit."  (HENRY'S  Deposition  in  the  case  of  O'Rielly  and  Morse,  September 
7, 1849.) 


246  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

exposed  wires  become  luminous :  and  "  when  the  wire  is  formed  into 
a  flat  spiral,  the  outer  spiral  alone  exhibits  the  lateral  discharge,  but 
the  light  in  this  case  is  very  brilliant:  the  inner  spirals  appear  to 
increase  the  effect  by  induction."  In  like  manner  when  a  ball  was 
attached  to  the  middle  of  a  vertical  lightning-rod  having  a  good 
earth-connection,  "when  sparks  of  about  an  inch  and  a  half  were 
thrown  on  the  ball,  corresponding  lateral  sparks  could  be  drawn 
not  only  from  the  parts  of  the  rod  between  the  ground  and  the  ball, 
but  from  the  part  above,  even  to  the  top  of  the  rod."  * 

At  the  same  meeting,  before  the  section  on  Mechanics  and  Engi- 
neering, Henry  gave  by  request  an  account  of  the  great  extension 
of  the  Railwrayand  Canal  systems  in  the  United  States  :  which  was 
listened  to  with  great  attention  and  interest.  He  also  referred  to 
the  inland  or  river  navigation  in  our  country,  describing  the  im- 
provements introduced  into  our  large  river  steamboats,  especially  on 
the  Hudson  river  in  New  York  State;  where  the  usual  speed  wras 
fifteen  miles  per  hour  or  more,  f 

In  November,  1837,  Henry  returned  from  his  foreign  tour 
greatly  invigorated, — bringing  with  him  some  new  apparatus:  and 
with  increased  zest  he  re-embarked  upon  the  duties  of  his  pro- 
fessorship. Continuing  his  studies  of  electrical  action,  he  presented 
verbally  to  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  February  16th, 
1838,  a  notice  of  further  observations  on  the  "lateral  discharge" 
of  electricity  while  passing  along  a  wire,  going  to  show  that  even 
with  good  earth  connection,  free  electricity  is  not  conducted  silently 
to  the  ground.  { 

In  May,  1838,  he  announced  to  the  Society  the  production  of 
currents  by  induction  from  ordinary  or  mechanical  electricity, 
analogous  to  that  first  obtained  by  Faraday  from  galvanism  in 
1831 :  and  the  further  curious  fact  that  on  the  discharge  from  a 
Leyden  jar  through  a  good  conductor,  a  secondary  shock  from  a 

*  Report  of  Brit.  Association,  for  1837,  pp.  22-24,  of  Abstracts. 

fSame  Report,  Abstracts,  p.  135.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Dr.  LARPNER,  gen- 
eralizing probably  from  his  observations  on  the  Thames,  ventured  (not  very  courte- 
ously) to  doubt  whether  any  such  speed  as  fifteen  miles  per  hour  on  water,  could 
ordinarily  be  effected.  (Sill.  Am.  Jour.  Mci.  Jan.  1838,  vol.  xxxiii.  p.  296.)  The  same 
authority  affirmed  the  futility  of  attempting  oceanic  steam  navigation. 

I  Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  Feb.  16, 1838,  vol.  i.  p.  6. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  247 

perfectly  insulated  near  conductor  could  be  obtained  —  more  intense 
than  the  primary  shock  directly  from  the  jar.  * 

These  investigations  having  in  view  the  discovery  of  "inductive 
actions  in  common  electricity  analogous  to  those  found  in  galvanism" 
(commenced  in  the  spring  of  1836),  led  to  renewed  examination  of 
the  secondary  galvanic  current,  which  since  November  24th,  1831, 
(or  for  seven  years,)  had  received  no  special  attention.  Henry's 
very  interesting  series  of  experiments  were  detailed  in  a  somewhat 
elaborate  memoir  read  before  the  American  Philosophical  Society, 
November  2nd,  1 838.  Employing  five  different  sized  annular  spools 
of  fine  wire  (about  one-fiftieth  of  an  inch  thick)  varying  from  one- 
fifth  of  a  mile  to  nearly  a  mile  in  length  (which  might  be  called 
"intensity"  helices);  and  six  flat  spiral  coils  of  copper  ribbon  vary- 
ing from  three-quarters  of  an  inch  to  one  inch  and  a  half  in  width, 
and  from  60  to  93  feet  in  length  (which  might  be  called  "quantity" 
coils),  he  was  able  to  combine  them  in  various  ways  both  in  con- 
nection and  in  parallelism.  A  cylindrical  battery  of  one  and  three- 
quarters  square  feet  of  zinc  surface  was  principally  used ;  and  the 
galvanic  circuit  was  interrupted  by  drawing  one  end  of  the  copper 
ribbon  or  wire  over  a  rasp  in  good  metallic  contact  with  the  other 
pole  of  the  battery. 

From  the  energetic  action  of  the  flat  ribbon  coil  in  producing 
the  induction  of  a  current  on  itself,  it  was  inferred  that  the  second- 
ary current  would  also  be  best  induced  by  it.  With  the  single 
larger  ribbon  coil  in  connection  with  the  battery,  and  another  ribbon 
coil  placed  over  it  resting  on  an  interposed  glass  plate,  at  every 
interruption  of  the  primary  circuit  an  induction  spark  was  obtained 
at  the  rubbed  ends  of  the  second  coil ;  though  the  shock  was  feeble. 
With  a  double  wire  spool  (one  within  the  other)  of  2650  yards, 
placed  above  the  primary  coil  (having  about  the  same  weight  as  the 
copper  ribbon)  the  magnetizing  effects  disappeared,  the  sparks  were 
much  smaller,  "  but  the  shock  was  almost  too  intense  to  be  received 
with  impunity."  The  secondary  current  in  this  case  was  one  of 
small  "quantity"  but  of  great  "intensity."  With  a  single  break 
of  circuit  in  the  primary,  it  was  passed  through  a  circle  of  56  stu- 
dents of  his  senior  class,  with  the  effect  of  a  moderate  charge  from 

*  Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  May  4, 1838,  vol.  i.  p.  U. 


248  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

a  Leyden  jar.  From  various  experiments,  the  limit  of  efficient 
length  for  a  given  galvanic  power  was  ascertained ;  beyond  which 
the  induced  current  was  diminished.  Employing  a  Cruickshanks 
battery  of  60  small  elements  (4  inches  square)  he  found  with  the 
ribbon  coil  that  the  induced  currents  were  exceedingly  feeble,  but 
with  the  long  wire  helix  as  the  primary  circuit  that  strong  indica- 
tions were  produced.  By  the  alternations  of  the  ribbon  and  wire 
coils,  the  fact  was  established  "  that  an  intensity  current  can  induce 
one  of  quantity,  and  by  the  preceding  experiments  the  converse  has 
also  been  shown  that  a  quantity  current  can  induce  one  of  intensity;" 
a  result  which  has  had  an  important  bearing  on  the  subsequent 
development  of  the  electro-magnetic  "Induction-Coil."  With  a 
long  ribbon  coil  receiving  the  galvanic  current  from  35  feet  of  zinc 
surface,  sensible  induction  shocks  could  be  felt  from  a  large  annular 
coil  of  four  feet  diameter  (containing  five  miles  of  wire)  when  placed 
in  parallelism  at  a  distance  of  four  feet  from  the  primary  coil ;  while' 
at  the  distance  of  one  foot  the  shock  became  too  severe  to  be  taken. 
With  this  arrangement  an  induction  shock  was  given  from  one 
apartment  to  another,  through  the  intervening  partition. 

Successive  orders  of  Induction. — When  it  is  considered  that  the 
primary  current  in  such  cases  has  a  considerable  duration,  while 
the  secondary  current  is  but  momentary,  being  developed  only  at 
the  instant  of  change  in  the  primary,  it  could  certainly  not  have 
been  expected  that  this  single  instantaneous  electrical  impulse  of 
reaction  would  be  capable  of  acting  as  a  primary  current,  and  of 
similarly  inducing  an  action  on  a  third  independent  circuit:  and 
during  the  seven  years  in  which  galvanic  induction  had  been  known, 
no  physicist  ever  thought  of  making  the  trial.  Theoretically  it 
might  perhaps  have  been  inferred,  if  such  tertiary 'induction  had 
any  existence,  as  it  would  be  coincident  not  with  the  instantaneous 
secondary  induction,  but  with  the  initiation  and  termination  of  such 
momentary  current,  and  hence  in  opposite  signs — separated  by  an 
inappreciable  interval  of  time,  that  the  whole  phenomenon  would 
probably  be  entirely  masked  by  a  practical  neutralization. 

The  experiments  of  Henry  fully  established  however  the  new  and 
remarkable  result  —  of  a  very  appreciable  tertiary  current.  By  con- 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  249 

necting  the  secondary  coil  with  another  at  some  distance  from  the 
primary  so  as  not  to  be  influenced  by  it  directly,  but  forming  with 
the  secondary  a  single  closed  circuit,  not  only  was  the  distant  coil 
capable  of  producing  in  an  insulated  wire  helix  placed  over  it,  a 
distinct  current  of  induction  at  the  interruption  of  the  primary, 
but  sensible  shocks  were  obtained  from  it.  The  experiment  was 
pushed  still  further;  and  inductive  currents  of  a  fourth  degree 
were  obtained.  "By  a  similar  but  more  extended  arrangement, 
shocks  were  received  from  currents  of  a  fourth  and  a  fifth  order: 
and  with  a  more  powerful  primary  current,  and  additional  coils,  a 
still  greater  number  of  successive  inductions  might  be  obtained. 
-  -  -  It  was  found  that  with  the  small  battery  a  shock  could 
be  given  from  the  current  of  the  third  order  to  twenty-five  persons 
joining  hands;  also  shocks  perceptible  in  the  arms  were  obtained 
from  a  current  of  the  fifth  order."  As  Henry  simply  remarks: 
"The  induction  of  currents  of  different  orders,  of  sufficient  inten- 
sity to  give  shocks,  could  scarcely  have  been  anticipated  from  our 
previous  knowledge  of  the  subject."  By  means  of  the  small 
magnetizing  helix  introduced  into  each  circuit,  the  direction  of 
these  successive  currents  was  found  to  be  alternating  or  reversed  to 
each  other.  These  remarkable  results  were  obtained  in  the  summer 
of  1838.* 

The  concluding  section  of  this  important  memoir  is  occupied 
with  an  account  of  "  The  production  of  induced  currents  of  the 
different  orders,  from  ordinary  electricity."  An  open  glass  cylinder 
about  six  inches  in  diameter  was  provided  with  two  long  narrow 
strips  of  tin  foil  pasted  around  it  in  corresponding  helical  courses, 
the  one  on  the  outside  and  the  other  on  the  inside,  directly  opposite 
to  each  other.  The  inner  coiled  strip  had  its  extremities  connected 
with  insulated  wires  which  formed  a  circuit  outside  the  cylinder, 
and  included  a  small  magnetizing  helix.  The  outer  tin  foil  strip 
was  also  connected  with  wires  so  that  an  electrical  discharge  from  a 
half-gallon  Leyden  jar  could  be  passed  through  it.  The  magneti- 
zation of  a  small  needle  indicated  an  induced  current  through  the 
inner  tin-foil  ribbon  corresponding  in  direction  with  the  outer  cur- 

*  Trans.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  vi.  (n.  s.)  p.  303. 


250  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HEXRY. 

rent  from  the  jar.*  By  means  of  a  second  glass  cylinder  similarly 
provided  with  helical  tin-foil  ribbons  in  suitable  connections,  a  ter- 
tiary current  of  induction  was  obtained,  analogous  to  that  derived 
from  galvanism.  "Also  by  the  addition  in  the  same  way  of  a  third 
cylinder,  a  current  of  the  fourth  order  was  developed." 

Similar  as  these  successive  inductions  from  an  electrical  discharge 
were  to  those  previously  observed  in  the  case  of  the  galvanic  cur- 
rent, they  presented  one  puzzling  difference  in  the  direction  of  the 
currents  of  the  different  orders.  "  These  in  the  experiments  with 
the  glass  cylinders,  instead  of  exhibiting  the  alternations  of  the  gal- 
vanic currents,  were  all  in  the  same  direction  as  the  discharge  from 
the  jar,  or  in  other  words  they  were  all  plus.  On  substituting  for 
the  tinned  glass  cylinders,  well  insulated  copper  coils,  "alternations 
were  found  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  galvanism."  The  only  differ- 
ence apparently  between  the  two  arrangements,  was  that  the  tin-foil 
ribbons  were  separated  only  by  the  thin  glass  of  the  cylinders,  while 
the  copper  spiral  coils  were  placed  an  inch  and  a  half  apart.  By 
varied  experiments,  the  direction  of  the  induced  currents  was  found 
to  depend  notably  on  the  distance  between  the  conductors;  —  the 
induction  ceasing  at  a  certain  distance,  (according  to  the  amount  of 
the  charge  and  the  characters  of  the  conductors,)  and  the  direction 
of  the  induced  current  beyond  this  critical  distance  being  contrary 
to  that  of  the  primary  current.*  "With  a  battery  of  eight  half- 
gallon  jars,  and  parallel  wires  about  ten  feet  long,  the  change  in  the 
direction  did  not  take  place  at  a  less  distance  than  from  twelve  to 

*  About  a  year  later,  the  distinguished  German  electrician  PETER  RIESS,  appa- 
rently unaware  of  HENRY'S  researches,  discovered  the  secondary  current  induced 
from  mechanical  electricity,  by  a  very  similar  experiment.  (Poggendorff's 
Annalen  cler  Physik  und  Chemie,  1839,  No.  5,  vol.  xlvii.  pp.  55-76.) 

t  The  variation  in  the  direction  of  polarization  (without  reference  to  induction 
currents)  appears  to  have  been  first  noticed  by  FELIX  SAVARY,  some  dozen  years 
before.  In  an  important  memoir  communicated  to  the  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences 
July  31, 1826,  M.  Savary  announced  that  "The  direction  of  the  magnetic  polarity  of 
small  needles  exposed  to  an  electric  current  directed  along  a  wire  stretched  longi- 
tudinally, varies  with  the  distance  of  the  wire:"— the  action  being  found  to  be 
periodical  with  the  distance.  M.  Savary  observed  three  periods,  and  also  the  fact 
that  the  distances  of  maximum  effect  and  of  the  nodal  zeros  "  vary  with  the  length 
and  diameter  of  the  wire,  and  with  the  intensity  of  the  discharge."  He  also  found 
that  "when  a  helix  is  used  for  magnetizing,  the  distance  at  which  the  needle  placed 
within  it  is  from  the  conducting  wire,  is  in  different;  but  the  direction  and  the  de- 
gree of  magnetization  depends  on  the  intensity  of  the  discharge,  and  on  the  ratio 
between  the  length  and  size  of  the  wire."  (Brewster's  Edinburgh  Jour.  Set.  Oct. 
1826,  vol.  v.  p.  369.) 


DISCOURSE   OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  251 

fifteen  inches,  and  with  a  still  larger  battery  and  longer  conductors, 
no  change  was  found  although  the  induction  was  produced  at  the 
distance  of  several  feet."  With  Dr.  Hare's  battery  of  32  one-gallon 
jars,  and  a  copper  wire  about  one-tenth  of  an  inch  thick  and  80  feet 
long  stretched  across  the  lecture-room  and  back  on  either  side  toward 
the  battery,  a  second  wire  stretched  parallel  with  the  former  for 
about  35  feet  and  extended  to  form  an  independent  circuit,  (its  ends 
being  connected  with  a  small  magnetizing  helix,)  was  tested  at  vary- 
ing distances  beginning  with  a  few  inches  until  they  were  twelve 
feet  apart:  at  which  distance  of  the  parallel  wire,  its  induction 
though  enfeebled,  still  indicated  by  its  magnetizing  power,  a  direc- 
tion corresponding  with  the  primary  current.  The  form  of  the 
room  did  not  permit  a  convenient  separation  of  the  two  circuits  to 
a  greater  distance.* 

The  eminent  French  electrician  Antoine  C.  Becquerel,  in  a  chap- 
ter on  Induction  in  his  large  work,  remarks:  "Very  recently  M. 
Henry,  Professor  of  Natural  Philosophy  in  New  Jersey,  has  extended 
the  domain  of  this  branch  of  physics:  the  results  obtained  by  him 
are  of  such  importance,  particularly  in  regard  to  the  intensity  of 
the  effects  produced,  that  it  is  proper  to  expound  them  here  with 
some  detail."  Twenty  pages  are  then  devoted  to  these  researches,  f 

A  memoir  was  read  before  the  Society,  June  19th,  1840,  giving 
an  account  of  observations  on  the  two  forms  of  induction  occurring 
on  the  making  and  on  the  breaking  of  the  primary  galvanic  circuit, 
the  two  differing  in  character  as  well  as  in  direction.  In  these  ex- 
periments he  employed  a  DanielPs  constant  battery  of  30  elements ; 
the  battery  being  "sometimes  used  as  a  single  series  with  all  its 
elements  placed  consecutively,  and  at  others  in  two  or  three  series, 
arranged  collaterally,  so  as  to  vary  the  quantity  and  intensity  of 
the  electricity  as  the  occasion  might  require."  As  the  initial  induc- 
tion had  always  been  found  so  feeble  as  to  be  scarcely  perceptible, 
(although  in  quantity  sufficient  to  affect  the  ordinary  galvanometer 

*  Trans.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.,  vol.  vi.  (n.  s.)  art.  ix.  pp.  303-337.  In  the  Proceedings  of 
the  Society  for  November  2d,  1838,  when  this  memoir  was  read,  it  is  recorded  "Pro- 
fessor HENRY  made  a  verbal  communication  during  the  course  of  which  he  illus- 
trated experimentally  the- phenomena  developed  in  his  paper."  (Proceed.  Am.  Phil* 
Soc.  Nov.  2, 1838,  vol.  i.  pp.  54-56.) 

t  Traits  experimental  de  V  filectricile  et  du  Magnetisme,  vol.  v.  pp.  87-107. 


252  MEMORIAL   OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

as  much  as  the  terminal  induction,)  most  of  the  results  previously 
obtained  (such  as  the  detection  of  successive  orders  of  currents)  were 
derived  from  the  strong  inductions  at  the  moment  of  breaking  the 
circuit.  It  became  therefore  important  to  endeavor  to  intensify  the 
initial  induction  for  its  more  especial  examination :  and  this  it  was 
found  could  be  effected  in  two  ways,  —  by  increasing  the  "intensity" 
of  the  battery,  and  by  diminishing  within  certain  limits  the  length 
of  the  primary  coil. 

"  With  the  current  from  one  element,  the  shock  at  breaking  the 
circuit  was  quite  severe,  but  at  making  the  same  it  was  very  feeble, 
and  could  be  perceived  in  the  fingers  only  or  through  the  tongue. 
With  two  elements  in  the  circuit  the  shock  at  the  beginning  was 
slightly  increased :  with  three  elements  the  increase  was  more  decided, 
while  the  shock  at  breaking  the  circuit  remained  nearly  of  the  same 
intensity  as  at  first,  or  was  comparatively  but  little  increased. 
When  the  number  of  elements  was  increased  to  ten,  the  shock  at 
making  contact  was  found  fully  equal  to  that  at  breaking,  and  by 
employing  a  still  greater  number,  the  former  was  decidedly  greater 
than  the  latter,  the  difference  continually  increasing  until  all  the 
thirty  elements  were  introduced  into  the  circuit.  -  -  -  Experi- 
ments were  next  made'to  determine  the  influence  of  a  variation  in 
the  length  of  the  coil,  the  intensity  of  the  battery  remaining  the 
same."  For  this  purpose  the  battery  consisting  of  a  single  element 
"  was  employed ;  and  the  length  of  the  copper  ribbon  coil  was  suc- 
cessively reduced  from  60  feet,  by  measures  of  15  feet.  With  45 
feet,  the  initial  induction  was  stronger  than  with  60  feet :  with  the 
next  shorter  length  it  was  more  perceptible,  and  increased  in 
intensity  with  each  diminution  of  the  coil,  until  a  length  of  about 
fifteen  feet  appeared  to  give  a  maximum  result."  At  the  same  time 
it  was  found  that  "  the  intensity  of  the  shock  at  the  ending  of  the 
battery  current  diminishes  with  each  diminution  of  the  length  of 
the  coil.  -  By  the  foregoing  results  we  are  evidently  fur- 

nished with  two '  methods  of  increasing  at  pleasure  the  intensity  of 
the  induction  at  the  beginning  of  a  battery  current,  the  one  con- 
sisting in  increasing  the  intensity  of  the  source  of  the  electricity, 
and  the  other  in  diminishing  the  resistance  to  conduction  of  the 
circuit  while  its  intensity  remains  the  same." 


DISCOURSE   OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  253 

Having  thus  succeeded  in  exalting  the  initial  induction,  Henry 
proceeded  in  his  investigation.  Distinct  currents  of  the  third, 
fourth,  and  fifth  orders  were  readily  obtained  from  it;  and  as  was 
anticipated,  with  their  signs  (or  directions)  the  reverse  of  the  cor- 
responding orders  derived  from  the  terminal  induction.  In  other 
respects  "the  series  of  induced  currents  produced  at  the  beginning 
of  the  primary  current  appeared  to  possess  all  the  properties  belong- 
ing to  those  of  the  induction  at  the  ending  of  the  same  current." 

In  the  course  of  these  investigations  the  idea  having  occurred  to 
him  "  that  the  intense  shocks  given  by  the  electric  fish  may  possibly 
be  from  a  secondary  current/7  as  it  appeared  to  him  that  "  this  is 
the  only  way  in  which  we  can  conceive  of  such  intense  electricity 
being  produced  in  organs  imperfectly  insulated  and  immersed  in  a 
conducting  medium/7  he  endeavored  to  simulate  the  effect  by  ar- 
ranging a  secondary  wire  coil  furnished  with  terminal  handles,  over 
a  primary  copper  ribbon  coil,  the  two  being  insulated  as  usual. 
"By  immersing  the  apparatus  in  a  shallow  vessel  of  water,  the 
handles  being  placed  at  the  two  extremities  of  the  diameter  of  the 
helix,  and  the  hands  plunged  into  the  water  parallel  to  a  line  join- 
ing the  two  poles,  a  shock  is  felt  through  the  arms." 

The  former  experiment  of  obtaining  an  induction  shock  from 
one  room  to  another  through  a  partition,  was  repeated  on  a  still 
larger  scale.  All  the  coils  of  copper  ribbon  having  been  united  in 
a  single  continuous  conductor  of  about  400  feet  in  length,  "this 
was  rolled  into  a  ring  of  five  and  a  half  feet  in  diameter,  and  sus- 
pended vertically  against  the  inside  of  the  large  folding  doors  which 
separate  the  laboratory  from  the  lecture-room.  Beyond  the  doors, 
in  the  lecture-room  and  directly  opposite  the  coil,  was  placed  a  helix 
formed  of  upwards  of  a  mile  of  copper  wire,  one-sixteenth  of  an 
inch  in  thickness,  and  wound  into  a  hoop  of  four  feet  in  diameter. 
With  this  arrangement,  and  a  battery  of  147  square  feet  of  zinc 
surface  divided  into  eight  elements,  shocks  were  perceptible  in  the 
tongue  when  the  two  conductors  were  separated  to  the  distance  of 
nearly  seven  feet.  At  the  distance  of  between  three  and  four  feet,  the 
shocks  were  quite  severe.  The  exhibition  was  rendered  more  inter- 
esting by  causing  the  induction  to  take  place  through  a  number  of 
persons  standing  in  a  row  between  the  two  conductors.77 


254  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

The  second  section  of  the  memoir  is  mainly  occupied  with  details 
of  experiments  on  the  screening  effect  of  conducting  plates  (of  non- 
magnetic metals)  when  interposed  between  the  primary  and  second- 
ary coils:  showing  remarkable  contrasts  in  the  "quantity"  and 
"intensity"  classes  of  galvanic  effects.  When  the  annular  spool 
or  helix  (of  nearly  one  mile  of  copper  wire)  was  employed  with  the 
large  spiral  coil  of  copper  ribbon,  "the  coil  being  connected  with  a 
battery  of  ten  elements,  the  shocks  both  at  making  and  breaking 
the  circuit  were  very  severe;  and  these  as  usual  were  almost  entirely 
neutralized  by  the  interposition  of  the  zinc  plate.  But  when  the 
galvanometer  instead  of  the  body,  was  introduced  into  the  circuit, 
its  indications  were  the  same  whether  the  plate  was  interposed  or 
not:  or  in  other  words  the  galvanometer  indicated  no  screening, 
while  under  the  same  circumstances  the  shocks  were  neutralized. 
A  similar  effect  was  observed  when  the  galvanometer  and  the  mag- 
netizing helix  were  together  introduced  into  the  circuit.  The 
interposition  of  the  plate  entirely  neutralized  the  magnetizing 
power  of  the  helix  (in  reference  to  tempered  steel)  while  the  deflec- 
tions of  the  galvanometer  were  unaffected."  The  induction  currents 
of  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  orders,  were  found  to  be  of  consid- 
erable "intensity;" — magnetizing  steel  needles,  giving  shocks,  not 
being  interrupted  by  a  drop  of  water  placed  in  the  circuit  between 
the  ends  of  the  severed  wire, —  and  yet  being  screened  or  neutral- 
ized by  a  metallic  plate  interposed  between  the  coils.* 

A  continuation  of  the  memoir  was  read  before  the  Philosophical 
Society  November  20th,  1840,  discussing  further  the  theoretical 
differences  between  an  initial  or  an  increasing  galvanic  current,  and 
a  decreasing  or  an  arrested  current,  in  producing  the  phenomena  of 
induction.  On  the  same  occasion  Henry  described  "an  apparatus 
for  producing  a  reciprocating  motion  by  the  repulsion  in  the  consec- 
utive parts  of  a  conductor  through  which  a  galvanic  current  is 
passing."  About  ten  years  before,  he  had  devised  the  first  electro- 
magnetic engine  (operating  by  intermittent  magnetic  attractions  and 
repulsions);  and  now  he  had  contrived  the  first  galvanic  engine, 
operating  by  the  analogous  intermittent  attractions  and  repulsions 
of  the  electric  current. f 

*  Trans.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  June  1840,  vol.  viii.  (n.  s.j  art.  i.  pp.  1-18. 
t  Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  Nov.  20,  1840,  vol.  i.  p.  301. 


DISCOURSE   OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  255 

Oscillation  of  Electrical  Discharge. — In  June,  1842,  he  presented  a 
communication  to  the  Society  recounting  an  investigation  of  some 
anomalies  in  ordinary  electrical  induction.  While  with  the  larger 
needles  ("  No.  3  and  No.  4  ")  subjected  to  the  magnetizing  helix,  the 
polarity  was  always  conformable  to  the  direction  of  the  discharge, 
he  found  that  when  very  fine  needles  were  employed,  an  increase  in 
the  force  of  the  electricity  produced  changes  of  polarity.  About  a 
thousand  needles  were  magnetized  in  the  testing  helices  in  these 
researches. 

This  puzzling  phenomenon  was  finally  cleared  up  by  the  important 
discovery  that  an  electrical  equilibrium  was  not  instantaneously 
effected  by  the  spark,  but  that  it  was  attained  only  after  several 
oscillations  of  the  flow.'  "The  discharge  —  whatever  may  be  its 
nature,  is  not  correctly  represented  by  the  single  transfer  from  one 
side  of  the  jar  to  the  other:  the  phenomena  require  us  to  admit  the 
existence  of  a  principal  discharge  in  one  direction,  and  then  several 
reflex  actions  backward  and  forward,  each  more  feeble  than  the  pre- 
ceding, until  the  equilibrium  is  obtained.7'*  In  every  case  therefore 
of  the  electrostatic  discharge,  the  testing  needles  were  really  sub- 
jected to  an  oscillating  alternation  of  currents,  and  consequently  to 
successive  partial  de-magnetizations  and  re-magnetizations.  The 
complications  produced  by  this  residual  action,  satisfactorily  ex- 
plained for  the  first  time,  the  discordant  results  obtained  by  different 
investigators.  This  singular  reflux  of  current  was  ingeniously  ap- 
plied by  Henry  to  explain  the  apparent  change  of  inductive  current 
with  differing  distances.  Should  the  primitive  discharge  wave  be 
in  excess  of  the  magnetic  capacity  of  the  needle  at  a  given  position, 
the  return  wave  might  be  just  sufficient  to  completely  reverse  its 
polarity,  and  the  diminished  succeeding  wave  insufficient  to  restore 
it  to  its  former  condition ;  while  at  a  greater  distance,  the  primitive 
wave  might  be  so  far  reduced  as  to  just  magnetize  the  needle  fully, 

*  Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  June  17,  1842,  vol.  ii.  pp.  193-196.— Prof.  HERMANN  L. 
F.  HELMHOLTZ  some  five  years  later  (in  1847),  but  quite  independently,  suggested 
"a  backward  and  forward  motion  between  the  coatings"  when  the  Leyden  jar  is 
discharged.  (Scientific  Memoirs,  edited  by  Dr.  J.  Tyndall,  1853,  vol.  i.  p.  143.)  And  still 
five  years  later  (in  1852)  Sir  WILLIAM  THOMSON  made  the  same  independent  conjec- 
ture. (L.  E.  D.  Phil.  Mag.  June,  1853,  vol.  v.  pp.  400,  401.)  To  FELIX  SAVARY  however 
.  is  due  the  credit  of  having  first  advanced  the  hypothesis  of  electrical  oscillations, 
as  early  as  1827.  See  "Supplement,"  NOTE  F. 


256  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENEY. 

and  the  second  wave,  being  still  more  enfeebled,  would  only  partially 
de-magnetize  it,  leaving  still  a  portion  of  the  original  polarity ;  and 
so  for  the  following  diminished  oscillations. 

In  the  course  of  these  extended  researches  the  presence  of  inductive 
action  was  traced  to  most  surprising  and  unimagined  distances.  "A 
single  spark  from  the  prime  conductor  of  the  machine,  of  about  an 
inch  long,  thrown  on  the  end  of  a  circuit  of  wire  in  an  upper  room, 
produced  an  induction  sufficiently  powerful  to  magnetize  needles  in 
a  parallel  circuit  of  wire  placed  in  the  cellar  beneath,  at  a  perpen- 
dicular distance  of  thirty  feet,  with  two  floors  and  ceilings  —  each 
fourteen  inches  thick  intervening." 

"The  last  part  of  the  series  of  experiments  relates  to  induced 
currents  from  atmospheric  electricity.  By  a  very  simple  arrange- 
ment, needles  are  strongly  magnetized  in  the  author's  study,  even 
when  the  flash  is  at  the  distance  of  seven  or  eight  miles,  and  when 
the  thunder  is  scarcely  audible.  On  this  principle  he  proposes  a 
simple  self-registering  electrometer,  connected  with  an  elevated 
exploring  rod."  For  obtaining  the  results  above  alluded  to,  a 
thick  wire  was  soldered  to  the  edge  of  the  tin  roof  of  his  dwelling 
and  passed  into  his  study  through  a  hole  in  the  window  frame; 
while  a  similar  wire  passing  out  to  the  ground,  terminated  in  con- 
nection with  a  metal  plate  in  a  deep  well  close  by.  Between  the 
wire  ends  within  his  study,  various  apparatus,  including  magnetiz- 
ing helices  of  different  sizes  and  characters,  could  be  attached,  so  as 
to  be  within  the  line  of  conduction  from  the  roof  to  the  ground. 
The  inductions  from  atmospheric  discharges  were  found  to  have  the 
oscillatory  character  observed  with  the  Leyden  jar;  and  by  inter- 
posing several  magnetizing  helices  with  few  and  with  many  con- 
volutions, Henry  was  able  to  get  from  a  needle  in  the  former 
the  polarity  due  to  the  direct  current,  and  in  the  latter,  that  due 
to  the  return  current ;  thus  catching  the  lightning  (as  it  were)  upon 
the  rebound. 

In  examining  the  "lateral  discharge"  from  a  lightning-rod  in 
good  connection  with  the  earth,  he  had  often  observed  that  while  a 
spark  could  be  obtained  sufficiently  strong  to  be  distinctly  felt,  it 
scarcely  affected  in  the  slightest  degree  a  delicate  gold-leaf  electro- 
scope. How  explain  so  incongruous  a  phenomenon?  Henry 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  257 

discovered  the  very  simple  solution,  by  a  reference  to  the  self-induc- 
tion of  the  rod, —  a  negative  wave  passing,  succeeded  immediately 
by  a  positive  wave  so  rapidly  as  to  completely  neutralize  the  eifect 
upon  the  electroscope  before  the  inertia  of  the  gold-leaf  could  be 
overcome,  while  actually  producing  a  double  spark  (sensibly  co-in- 
cident) to  and  from  the  recipient. 

A  few  months  later,  "  he  had  succeeded  in  magnetizing  needles  by 
the  secondary  current,  in  a  wire  more  than  two  hundred  and  twenty 
feet  distant  from  the  wire  through  which  the  primary  current  was 
passing,  excited  by  a  single  spark  from  an  electrical  machine."* 
In  this  case  the  primary  wire  was  his  telegraph  line  stretched  seven 
years  before  across  the  campus  of  the  college  grounds  in  front  of 
Nassau  Hall ;  the  secondary  or  induction  wire  being  suspended  in 
a  parallel  direction  across  the  grounds  at  the  rear  of  Nassau  Hall, 
with  its  ends  terminating  in  buried  metallic  plates:  —  the  large 
building  intervening  between  the  two  wires. 

This  brilliant  series  of  contributions  to  our  knowledge  of  a  most 
recondite  and  mysterious  agent,  placed  Henry,  by  the  concurrent 
judgment  of  all  competent  physicists,  in  the  very  front  rank  of 
original  investigators.  His  persevering  researches  in  the  electrical 
paradoxes  of  induction,  perhaps  more  than  any  similar  ones,  tended 
to  strengthen  the  hypothesis  of  an  setherial  dynamic  agency;  although 
he  himself  had  for  a  long  time  been  inclined  to  favor  the  material 
hypothesis,  f 

INVESTIGATIONS   IN   GENERAL   PHYSICS:    FROM   1830  TO   1846. 

In  order  to  give  a  proper  connection  to  the  experimental  inqui- 
ries undertaken  by  Henry  in  various  fields,  it  is  necessary  to  pause 
here,  and  to  recur  to  some  of  his  earlier  scientific  labors, — begin- 
ning again  at  Albany. 

*  Proceedings  Am,  Phil.  Soc.  Oct.  21, 1842,  vol.  li.  p.  229.  It  is  barely  possible  that 
the  primary  current  might  have  returned  through  the  second  wire. 

fin  a  paper  "On  the  Theory  of  the  so-called  Imponderables"  published  some 
years  later,  in  referring  to  the  phenomena  of  electrical  oscillation  in  discharge,  and 
of  the  series  of  inductions  taking  place  and  "  extending  to  a  surprising  distance  on 
all  sides,"  he  remarks :  "As  these  are  the  results  of  currents  in  alternate  directions, 
they  must  produce  in  surrounding  space  a  series  of  plus  and  minus  motions,  anal- 
ogous to  —  if  not  identical  with  undulations."  (Proceed.  Amer.  Association,  Albany, 
Aug.  1851,  p.  89.) 

17 


258  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

Meteorology. — From  an  early  date  Henry  took  a  deep  interest 
in  the  study  of  meteorology:  not  only  on  account  of  its  practical 
importance,  but  from  its  relation  to  cosmical  physics,  and  because 
from  the  very  complexity  and  irregularity  of  its  conditions,  it 
challenged  further  investigation  and  stood  in  need  of  larger  gener- 
alizations. His  early  association  with  Dr.  T.  Romeyn  Beck  in 
the  first  development  of  the  system  of  meteorological  observations 
established  in  the  State  of  New  York,  has  already  been  referred  to 
in  the  sketch  of  his  "Early  Career."  (Page  212.)  This  active  and 
zealous  co-operation  continued  from  1827  to  1832;  or  as  long  as  he 
resided  in  Albany. 

In  September  of  1830,  he  commenced  a  series  of  observations 
for  Professor  Renwick  of  Columbia  College,  to  determine  the 
magnetic  intensity  at  Albany.  With  the  assistance  of  his  brother- 
in-law,  Professor  Stephen  Alexander,  these  observations  were  con- 
tinued daily  for  two  months.*  In  April,  1831,  a  second  series  of 
observations  was  commenced;  in  the  course  of  which  his  attention 
was  attracted  by  a  great  disturbance  of  the  needle  during  the 
time  of  a  conspicuous  "aurora"  on  the  19th  of  April,  1831.  At 
noon  of  the  19th  the  oscillations  were  found  to  be  perfectly  accord- 
ant with  previous  ones,  but  at  6  o'clock  p.  M.  a  remarkable  increase 
of  magnetic  intensity  was  indicated.  At  10  o'clock  of  the  same 
evening,  during  the  most  active  manifestation  of  the  aurora,  the 
oscillations  of  the  needle  were,  again  examined.  "Instead  of  still 
indicating  as  at  6  o'clock  an  uncommonly  high  degree  of  magnetic 
intensity,  it  now  showed  an  intensity  considerably  lower  than  usual." 
Thus,  designating  the  normal  intensity  at  the  place  as  unity,  at  6 
o'clock  it  had  increased  to  1.024,  and  at  10  o'clock  had  subsided  to 
0.993,  which  according  to  Hansteen's  observations  is  the  usual 

*The  needles  employed  in  these  observations  were  a  couple  received  by  Professor 
RENWICK  from  Capt.  SABINE,— one  of  which  had  belonged  to  Professor  HANSTEEN 
of  Norway.  "  They  were  suspended  according  to  the  method  of  Hansteen  in  a  small 
mahogany  box,  by  a  single  fiber  of  raw  silk.  The  box  was  furnished  with  a  glass 
cover,  and  had  a  graduated  arc  of  ivory  on  the  bottom  to  mark  the  amplitude  of  the 
vibrations.  In  using  this  apparatus,  the  time  of  three  hundred  vibrations  was  noted 
by  a  quarter-second  watch,  well  regulated  to  mean  time;  a  register  being  made  at 
the  end  of  every  tenth  vibration,  and  a  mean  deduced  from  the  whole,  taken  as  the 
true  time  of  the  three  hundred  vibrations.  Experiments  carefully  made  with  this 
apparatus  were  found  susceptible  of  considerable  accuracy;"  the  individual  observa- 
tions not  differing  from  the  mean  number,  ordinarily  more  than  one-thousandth. 
(Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  April,  1832,  vol.  xxii.  p.  145.) 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  259 

relation  of  magnetic  disturbance  by  an  aurora.  *  An  account  of 
these  results  was  communicated  by  Henry  to  the  Albany  Institute, 
January  26,  1832;  and  was  also  published  in  the  Report  of  the 
Regents  of  the  New  York  University.  A  little  more  than  a  month 
later  (to  wit  on  March  6,  1832,)  he  had  been  able  to  collate  the 
various  published  accounts  of  this  aurora ;  and  he  learned  "  the  fact 
of  a  disturbance  of  terrestrial  magnetism  being  observed  by  Mr. 
Christie  in  England  on  the  same  evening,  and  at  nearly  the  same 
time  the  disturbance  was  witnessed  in  Albany,  and  that  too  in  con- 
nection with  the  appearance  of  an  aurora."  This  circumstance  led 
him  to  make  a  careful  comparison  of  the  notices  of  auroral  displays 
given  in  the  meteorological  reports  in  the  Annals  of  Philosophy  for 
1830  and  1831,  with  those  of  the  Reports  of  the  New  York 
Regents  for  the  same  period.  "By  inspecting  these  two  publica- 
tions it  was  seen  that  from  April,  1830,  to  April,  1831,  inclusive, 
the  aurora  was  remarkably  frequent  and  brilliant  both  in  Europe 
and  in  this  country;  and  that  most  of  the  auroras  described  in  the 
Annals  for  this  time,  particularly  the  brilliant  ones,  were  seen  on 
the  same  evening  in  England  and  in  the  State  of  New  York." 
From  which  he  argues  that  "  these  simultaneous  appearances  of  the 
meteor  in  Europe  and  America  would  therefore  seem  to  warrant  the 
conclusion  that  the  aurora  borealis  cannot  be  classed  among  the 
ordinary  local  meteorological  phenomena,  but  that  it  must  be  referred 
to  some  cause  connected  with  the  general  physical  principles  of  the 
globe ;  and  that  the  more  energetic  action  of  this  cause  (whatever 
it  may  be)  affects  simultaneously  a  greater  portion  of  the  northern 
hemisphere."  f 

In  attempting  to  classify  and  digest  the  meteorological  data 
within  his  reach,  Henry  became  strongly  impressed  with  the 
necessity  of  much  more  extensive,  continuous,  and  systematic  obser- 
vations than  any  as  yet  undertaken:  and  he  neglected  no  oppor- 
tunities of  directing  influence  upon  the  minds  of  our  national 

*  Professor  HANSTEEN  has  remarked  that  "A  short  time  before  the  aurora 
borealis  appears,  the  intensity  of  the  magnetism  of  the  earth  is  apt  to  rise  to  an  un- 
common height;  but  so  soon  as  the  aurora  borealis  begins,  in  proportion  as  its  force 
increases,  the  intensity  of  the  magnetism  of  the  earth  decreases,  recovering  its 
former  strength  by  degrees,  often  not  till  the  end  of  twenty-four  hours."  (Edinburgh 
Philosoph.  Jour.  Jan.  1825,  vol.  xii.  p.  91.) 

f  Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  April,  1832,  vol.  xxii.  pp.  150-155. 


260  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

legislators,  to  impress  them  with  the  great  need — as  well  as  the 
practical  policy  of  prosecuting  the  subject  by  governmental 
resources.  No  one  at  that  day  seemed  so  fully  awake  both  to  the 
importance  and  to  the  methods  of  prosecuting  such  inquiry:  and 
no  one  more  effectually  advanced  both  by  direct  and  by  indirect 
exertions  the  wide-spread  interest  in  this  study,  than  he. 

In  1839,  while  at  Princeton,  he  in  conjunction  with  his  friend 
Professor  Bache,  induced  the  American  Philosophical  Society 
officially  to  memorialize  the  National  Government  to  establish 
stations  for  magnetic  and  meteorological  observations :  a  movement 
which  was  partly  successful,  though  not  to  the  extent  desired.  On 
the  subject  of  international  systems  of  observation  and  register,  he 
justly  remarks  at  a  later  date:  "In  order  that  the  science  of 
meteorology  may  be  founded  on  reliable  data,  and  attain  that  rank 
which  its  importance  demands,  it  is  necessary  that  extended  systems 
of  co-operation  should  be  established.  In  regard  to  climate,  no 
part  of  the  world  is  isolated:  that  of  the  smallest  island  in  the 
Pacific,  is  governed  by  the  general  currents  of  the  air  and  the 
waters  of  the  ocean.  To  fully  understand  therefore  the  causes 
which  influence  the  climate  of  any  one  country,  or  any  one  place, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  study  the  conditions,  as  to  heat,  moisture,  and 
the  movements  of  the  air,  of  all  others.  It  is  evident  also  that  as 
far  as  possible,  one  method  should  be  adopted,  and  that  instruments 
affording  the  same  indications  under  the  same  conditions  should  be 
employed.  -  -  -  A  general  plan  of  this  kind,  for  observing 
the  meteorological  and  rnagnetical  changes,  more  extensively  than 
had  ever  before  been  projected,  was  digested  by  the  British  Asso- 
ciation in  1838,  in  which  the  principal  Governments  of  Europe 
were  induced  to  take  an  active  part;  and  had  that  of  the  United 
States,  and  those  of  South  America,  joined  in  the  enterprise,  a  series 
of  watch-towers  of  nature  would  have  been  distributed  over  every 
part  of  the  earth.  -  -  -  Though  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  took  no  part  with  the  other  nations  of  the  earth,  in 
the  great  system  before  described,  yet  it  has  established  and  sup- 
ported for  a  number  of  years  a  partial  system  of  observation  at  the 
different  military  posts  of  the  army."  * 

*  Agricultural  Report  of  Commissioner  of  Patents,  for  1855.  pp.  367,  368. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  261 

A  large  collection  of  original  notes  of  various  meteorological 
observations, —  on  magnetic  variations,  on  auroras  with  attempts  at 
ascertaining  their  extreme  height,  on  violent  whirlwinds,  on  hail- 
stones, on  thunder-storms,  and  the  deportment  of  lightning-rods, — 
unfortunately  never  published  nor  transcribed,  were  lost  (with 
much  other  precious  scientific  material)  by  fire  in  1865.  The  phe- 
nomena of  thunder-storms  were  always  studied  by  Henry  with 
great  interest  and  attention.  A  very  severe  one  which  visited 
Princeton  on  the  evening  of  July  14,  1841,  was  minutely  described 
in  a  communication  to  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  Novem- 
ber 5th,  1841.* 

On  November  3d,  1843,  he  made  a  communication  to  the  Society 
"in  regard  to  the  application  of  Melloni's  thermo-electric  apparatus 
to  meterological  purposes,  and  explained  a  modification  of  the  parts 
connected  with  the  pile,  to  which  he  had  been  led  in  the  course  of 
his  researches.  He  had  found  the  vapors  near  the  horizon,  powerful 
reflectors  of  heat ;  but  in  the  case  of  a  distant  thunder-storm,  he  had 
found  that  the  cloud  was  colder  than  the  adjacent  blue  space."  f 

On  June  20,  1845,  he  read  a  paper  before  the  Society  on  "a 
simple  method  of  protecting  from  lightning,  buildings  covered 
with  metallic  roofs;"  urging  the  importance  in  such  cases  of  having 
the  vertical  rain  pipes  always  in  good  electrical  connection  with  the 
earth,  since  aon  the  principle  of  electrical  induction,  houses  thus 
covered  are  evidently  more  liable  to  be  struck  than  those  furnished 
either  with  shingle  or  tile.  It  is  of  course  necessary  to  have  the 
metallic  roof  in  good  metallic  connection  with  the  gutters  and 
pipes;  and  the  latter  may  conveniently  have  soldered  to  the  lower 
end  a  ribbon  of  sheet  copper  two  or  three  inches  wide,  continuing 
into  the  ground  surrounded  with  charcoal  and  extending  out  from 
the  house  till  it  terminates  in  moist  ground.  J 

*  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  ii.  pp.  111-116. 

t  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  iv.  p.  22. 

J  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  iv.  p.  179.  HENRY  appears  to  have  been  much  im- 
pressed with  the  conducting  value  of  the  tinned  sheet-iron  pipes  commonly  used 
as  rain  spouts,  from  observing  that  amid  the  strange  vagaries  of  the  circuitous 
path  pursued  by  the  lightning  (in  cases  of  houses  struck  by  this  destructive 
agent),  the  rain  pipe  was  not  unfrequently  selected  as  part  of  the  route;— marks 
of  explosive  violence  being  exhibited  at  its  lower  end,  and  sometimes  at  its  top 
as  well,— while  the  pipe  itself  was  found  to  be  uninjured. 


262  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

In  this  paper  he  incidentally  meets  the  much  debated  question 
whether  a  lightning-rod  is  efficient  as  a  conductor  by  its  solidity,  or 
by  its  surface  only.  While  he  had  been  able  to  magnetize  small 
needles  placed  transversely  to  the  edges  of  broad  strips  of  copper, 
through  which  electrical  discharges  were  passed,  he  could  obtain  no 
signs  of  magnetism  in  needles  when  placed  transversely  near  the 
sides  of  such  strips  about  mid-way  from  the  edges.  In  like  man- 
ner he  failed  to  discover  any  action  in  a  small  magnetizing  helix 
placed  within  a  section  of  gas-pipe  and  connected  with  it  at  either 
end,  when  transmitting  through  the  system  an  electrical  spark; 
while  he  easily  obtained  magnetic  effects  with  a  galvanic  current 
passed  through  the  same  arrangement.*  From  these  and  other 
experiments  he  was  led  to  believe  that  mechanical  electricity  tends 
to  pass  mainly  along  the  exterior  surface  of  a  conductor,  and  accord- 
ingly that  Ohm's  law  of  conduction  is  not  applicable  to  lightning 
or  mechanical  electricity,  f 

Some  popular  uneasiness  having  been  excited  in  1846,  in  conse- 
quence of  telegraph  poles  being  occasionally  struck  by  lightning, 
and  of  the  supposed  danger  to  travellers  along  highways  likely  to 
result  therefrom,  a  communication  on  the  subject  addressed  to  Dr. 
Patterson,  one  of  the  Vice-Presidents  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society,  was  read  before  the  Society,  and  referred  to  Professor 
Henry  for  report.  This  was  in  the  very  infancy  of  the  electro- 
magnetic telegraph ;  as  it  had  not  then  been  in  existence  more  than 
a  couple  of  years.  Henry  responded  in  a  communication  read 
June  19th,  1846,  to  the  effect  that  while  telegraph  wires  as  long 
conductors  were  eminently  liable  to  receive  discharges  of  atmos- 
pheric electricity  both  from  charged  clouds  and  from  the  varying 
electrical  condition  of  the  air  at  distant  points  along  the  line  (as  for 

*  In  passing  a  galvanic  current  through  an  iron  tube,  he  obtained  the  evidence 
of  an  induction  from  both  the  inside  and  the  outside  of  the  tube,  but  in  opposite 
directions. 

t  This  very  important  question  cannot  be  regarded  as  even  yet  decisively 
settled: — eminent  authorities  maintaining  that  electricity  in  flow — of  whatever 
origin  — observes  equally  the  ratio  of  proportionality  to  area  of  cross  section  in 
the  conductor.  Probably  the  law  of  conductivity  varies  with  circumstances. 
RITCHIE  remarks  that  "if  a  metallic  rod  be  raised  to  a  red  heat,  its  power  of 
conducting  common  electricity  is  increased,  whilst  its  conducting  power  for 
voltaic  electricity  is  considerably  diminished."  (Journal  of  the  Royal  Institution 
of  Great  Britain,  Oct.  1830,  vol.  i.  (n.  s.)  p.  37.) 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  263 

example  even  by  a  fog  or  precipitation  of  vapor  at  one  station)  as 
also  from  induction  at  a  distance,  the  danger  to  travellers  along  a 
telegraph  road  would  be  very  slight,  unless  a  person  should  be 
standing  or  passing  quite  close  to  a  pole  at  the  moment  of  its  being 
struck.  He  however  recommended  that  for  the  protection  of  the 
poles,  they  should  be  provided  with  conductors.  "The  effects  of 
powerful  discharges  from  the  clouds  may  be  prevented  in  a  great 
degree  by  erecting  at  intervals  along  the  line  and  beside  the  support- 
ing poles  a  metallic  wire  connected  with  the  earth  at  the  lower  end, 
and  terminating  above  at  the  distance  of  about  half  an  inch  from  the 
wire  of  the  telegraph.  By  this  arrangement,  the  insulation  of  the 
conductor  will  not  be  interfered  with,  while  the  greater  portion  of 
the  charge  will  be  drawn  off.  I  think  this  precaution  of  great 
importance  at  places  where  the  line  crosses  a  river  and  is  supported 
on  high  poles.  Also  in  the  vicinity  of  the  office  of  the  telegraph, 
where  a  discharge  falling  on  the  wire  near  the  station  might  send  a 
current  into  the  house  of  sufficient  quantity  to  produce  serious  acci- 
dents." *  This  precaution  has  now  been  largely  adopted,  especially 
on  the  telegraph  lines  of  the  central  portion  of  the  United  States, 
which  are  more  liable  to  the  effects  of  lightning,  f 

Molecular  Physics.  —  Among  other  inquiries  many  original  exam- 
inations were  made  by  Henry  in  the  domain  of  molecular  physics. 
While  Professor  in  the  College  of  New  Jersey  in  1839,  his  attention 
was  attracted  to  a  curious  case  of  metallic  capillarity.  A  small  lead 
tube  about  eight  inches  long  happening  to  be  left  with  a  bent  end 
lying  in  a  shallow  dish  of  mercury,  he  noticed  a  few  days  afterward 
that  the  mercury  had  disappeared  from  the  dish,  and  was  spread 
on  the  shelf  about  the  other  end  of  the  tube.  On  a  careful  exam- 
ination of  the  tube  by  incision,  it  appeared  that  the  mercury  had  not 
passed  along  the  open  canal  of  the  tube,  but  had  percolated  through 
its  solid  substance.  To  test  this,  a  solid  rod  of  lead  about  one- 
fourth  of  an  inch  thick  and  seven  inches  long  was  bent  into  a  siphon 
form,  and  the  shorter  end  immersed  in  a  small  shallow  vessel  of 
mercury ;  a  similar  empty  vessel  being  placed  under  the  longer  end. 

*  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  iv.  p.  266. 

fPrescott.  Electricity  and  the  Electric  Telegraph,  8vo.  N.  York,  1877,  chap,  xxiii. 
pp.  296  and  411. 


264  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

In  the  course  of  24  hours  a  globule  of  mercury  was  found  at  the 
lower  end  of  the  lead  rod ;  and  in  five  or  six  days  it  had  all  passed 
over  excepting  what  appeared  in  the  form  of  crystals  of  a  lead 
amalgam  in  the  upper  vessel.  *  A  long  piece  of  thick  lead  wire 
was  afterward  suspended  in  a  vertical  position,  with  its  lower  end 
dipping  into  a  cup  of  mercury.  In  the  course  of  a  few  days,  traces 
of  the  mercury  were  found  in  the  rod  at  the  height  of  three  feet 
above  the  cup :  thus  showing  that  a  metal  impervious  to  water  or 
oil  (excepting  under  very  great  pressure)  was  easily  penetrated  to 
great  distances  by  a  liquid  metal. 

Some  years  later  on  a  visit  to  Philadelphia  he  endeavored  with 
the  assistance  of  his  friend  Dr.  Patterson  (then  Director  of  the 
United  States  Mint),  by  melting  a  small  globule  of  gold  oh  a  plate 
of  clean  sheet-iron,  to  obtain  its  capillary  absorption ;  but  without 
effect;  probably  owing  to  the  interposition  of  a  thin  film  of  oxide. 
Applying  to  another  personal  friend,  Mr.  Cornelius  of  Philadelphia, 
a  very  intelligent  and  ingenious  manufacturer  of  bronzes,  and  plated 
ornaments  for  chandeliers,  etc.  to  try  whether  a  piece  of  silver-plated 
copper  heated  to  the  melting  point  of  silver  would  show  any  absorp- 
tion of  that  metal,  he  learned  that  it  was  a  common  experience  under 
such  circumstances  to  find  the  silver  disappear;  but  that  this  had 
always  been  attributed  to  a  volatilization  of  the  silver,  or  in  the 
workman's  phrase, — to  its  being  "  burnt  off."  At  Henry's  request 
the  experiment  was  tried :  the  heated  end  of  a  silver-plated  piece 
of  copper  exhibited  on  cooling  and  cleaning,  a  copper  surface ;  the 
other  end  remaining  unchanged.  Henry  next  had  the  copper  sur- 
face slightly  dissolved  off  by  immersion  for  a  few  minutes  in  a 
solution  of  muriate  of  zinc,  when  as  he  had  anticipated,  the  silver 
was  again  exposed,  having  penetrated  to  but  a  very  short  and  toler- 
ably uniform  distance  below  the  original  surface,  f 

In  1844,  he  made  some  important  observations  on  the  cohesion 
of  liquids.  Notwithstanding  that  Dr.  Young  early  in  the  century 
maintained  that  "the  immediate  cause  of  solidity  as  distinguished 
from  liquidity  is  the  lateral  adhesion  of  the  particles  to  each  other," 
and  had  shown  that  "  the  resistance  of  ice  to  extension  or  com- 

*  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  i.  p.  82. 

t  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  June  20, 1845,  vol.  iv.  p.  177. 


DISCOURSE   OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  265 

pression  is  found  by  experiment  to  differ  very  little  from  that  of 
water  contained  in  a  vessel/'  *  all  the  most  popular  text-books  on 
physics  continued  to  teach  that  the  cohesion  of  the  liquid  state  is 
intermediate  between  that  of  the  solid  and  the  gaseous  states,  f  It 
seemed  therefore  desirable  to  test  the  question  by  some  more  direct 
means  than  the  resistance  of  liquids  contained  in  closed  vessels ;  and 
for  this  purpose  Henry  employed  the  classical  soap-bubble.  "  The 
effect  of  dissolving  the  soap  in  the  water  is  not  as  might  at  first 
appear,  to  increase  the  molecular  attraction,  but  to  diminish  the 
mobility  of  the  molecules."  In  fact  the  actual  tenacity  of  pure  water 
is  greater  than  that  of  soap- water. 

The  first  set  of  experiments  was  directed  to  determine  "the 
quantity  of  water  which  adhered  to  a  bubble  just  before  it  burst." 
The  second  set  of  experiments  was  devised  to  measure  the  contractile 
force  of  a  soap-bubble  blown  on  the  wider  end  of  a  U-shaped  glass 
tube  half  filled  with  water,  by  the  barometric  column  sustained  in 
the  narrower  stem  of  the  tube;  the  difference  of  level  being  care- 
fully observed  by  means  of  a  microscope.  The  thickness  of  the 
soap-bubble  film  at  its  top  was  estimated  by  the  last  of  the  Newton 
rings  shown  previous  to  bursting.  The  result  arrived  at  from  both 
sets  of  experiments  was  that  water  instead  of  having  a  cohesion  of 
53  grains  to  the  square  inch  (as  was  very  commonly  stated),  has  a 
cohesive  force  of  several  hundred  pounds  to  the  inch;  or  that  the 
inter-molecular  cohesion  of  a  liquid  is  fully  equal  to  that  of  the  sub- 
stance in  the  solid  state.  J 

*  Young's  Lectures  on  Nat.  Philos.  Lect.50,  vol.  i.  p.  627. 

t "  If  we  attempt  to  draw  up  from  the  surface  of  water  a  circular  disk  of  metal 
say  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  we  shall  see  that  the  water  will  adhere  and  be  supported 
several  lines  above  the  general  surface.  This  experiment  which  is  frequently  given 
in  elementary  books  as  a  measure  of  the  feeble  attraction  of  water  for  itself,  is  im- 
properly interpreted.  It  merely  indicates  the  force  of  attraction  of  a  single  film  of 
atoms  around  the  perpendicular  surface,  and  not  of  the  whole  column  elevated." 
(Agricultural  Report  for  1857.  p.  427.— Henry's  paper  on  Meteorology.) 

I  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  April  5  and  May  17,  1844,  vol.  iv.  pp.  56,  57,  and  84,  85.  The 
original  notes  of  these  interesting  experiments  containing  the  numerical  results 
obtained  under  a  great  variety  of  conditions,  laid  aside  for  further  reductions  and 
comparisons,  were  destroyed  by  fire  in  1865.  Since  the  density  of  most  solid  sub- 
stances differs  very  slightly  from  that  of  their  liquid  state,  being  indeed  less  in 
many,— unless  at  considerably  lower  temperatures,  (as  in  the  case  of  ice,  and  most 
of  the  metals,)  it  appears  quite  improbable  that  the  difference  between  solidity  and 
liquidity  could  depend  in  any  case  on  the  degree  of  cohesion.  On  the  contrary,  the 
cohesion  of  water  should  be  sensibly  greater  than  that  of  ice,  since  its  constituent 


266  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

In  1846,  he  presented  to  the  Philosophical  Society  an  epitome  of 
his  views  on  the  molecular  constitution  of  matter;  giving  the 
reasons  for  accepting  the  atomic  hypothesis  of  Newton.  He  pointed 
out  that  the  discovery  and  establishment  of  a  general  scientific  prin- 
ciple "  is  in  almost  all  cases  the  result  of  deductions  from  a  rational 
antecedent  hypothesis,  the  product  of  the  imagination ;  founded  it 
is  true  on  a  clear  analogy  with  modes  of  physical  action,  the  truth 
of  which  has  been  established  by  previous  investigation :"  and  he 
urged  that  the  hope  of  further  advancement  lies  in  the  assumption 
"  that  the  same  laws  of  force  and  motion  which  govern  the  phenomena 
of  the  action  of  matter  in  masses,  pertains  to  the  minutest  atoms  of 
these  masses."  He  therefore  felt  "  obliged  to  assume  the  existence 
of  an  aBtherial  medium  formed  of  atoms  which  are  endowed  with 
precisely  the  same  properties  as  those  we  have  assigned  to  common 
matter/' 

"According  to  the  foregoing  rules  we  may  assume  with  Newton, 
the  existence  of  one  kind  of  matter  diffused  throughout  all  space, 
and  existing  in  four  states,  namely  the  setherial,  the  aeriform,  the 
liquid,  and  the  solid."  *  [In  referring  to  this  postulated  fourfold 
state  of  matter ,  Henry  was  accustomed  to  point  out  the  remarkable 
analogy  between  this  conception,  and  that  of  the  four  elements  of 
the  ancients,  —  fire,  air,  water,  and  earth.] 

"In  conclusion,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  legitimate  use  of 
speculations  of  this  kind,  is  not  to  furnish  plausible  explanations 
of  known  phenomena,  or  to  present  old  knowledge  in  a  new  and 
more  imposing  dress,  but  to  serve  the  higher  purpose  of  suggesting 
new  experiments  and  new  phenomena,  and  thus  to  assist  in  enlarg- 
ing the  bounds  of  science,  and  extending  the  power  of  mind  over 
matter;  and  unless  the  hypothesis  can  be  employed  in  this  way, 
however  much  ingenuity  may  have  been  expended  in  its  construc- 
tion, it  can  only  be  considered  as  a  scientific  romance  worse  than 

molecules  are  closer  together.  Of  the  nature  of  that  "lateral  adhesion"  which  resists 
the  flow  of  solids  (excepting  under  the  conditions  of  great  strain  — long  continued), 
and  whose  absence  is  marked  in  liquids  by  their  almost  perfect  and  frictionless  mo- 
bility, our  present  science  affords  us  no  intimation. 

*Two  hundred  years  ago,  NEWTON  speculating  on  the  unity  of  matter,  ventured 
the  suggestion,  "Thus  perhaps  may  all  things  be  originated  from  aether."— Letter  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Royal  Society— Henry  Oldenburg,  January,  1676.  (History  of 
the  Royal  Society :  by  Thomas  Birch,  vol.  iii.  p.  250. ) 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  267 

useless,  since  it  tends  to  satisfy  the  mind  with  the  semblance  of  truth, 
and  thus  to  render  truth  itself  less  an  object  of  desire."  * 

Light  and  Heat.  —  Henry  also  made  important  investigations  on 
some  peculiar  phenomena  connected  with  light  and  heat.  For  the 
purpose  of  experimenting  on  sun-light  he  devised  in  1840,  a  very 
simple  form  of  heliostat,  based  on  the  suggestion  of  Dr.  Young, 
whereby  the  solar  ray  was  received  into  an  upper  room  in  a  direc- 
tion parallel  to  the  earth's  axis,  by  means  of  a  simple  equatorial 
movement  of  the  reflector  ;f  which  was  effected  by  the  aid  of  a 
common  cheap  pocket  watch  placed  on  a  small  hinged  board  set  by 
a  screw  to  the  angle  of  latitude.  The  mirror  mounted  on  a  swivel 
and  properly  balanced,  presented  no  sensible  resistance  to  the  run- 
ning of  the  watch,  which  was  arranged  for  the  24-hour  rotation  by 
a  watchmaker  of  Princeton.  The  whole  cost  of  the  completed  in- 
strument (including  the  time-movement)  was  but  sixteen  dollars. 
If  any  particular  direction  of  the  ray  was  required,  it  was  only 
necessary  to  place  a  stationary  mirror  in  the  fixed  path  of  the  ray, 
adjusted  to  the  desired  angle.  J 

In  1841,  on  repeating  experiments  of  Becquerel  and  Biot  on 
"Phosphorescence,"  he  discovered  some  new  characteristics  in  the 
emanation  (particularly  when  excited  by  electrical  light)  which  had 
not  before  been  observed.  §  These  were  more  fully  detailed  in  a 
communication  made  to  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  in 
1843,  "On  Phosphorogenic  Emanation."  This  phenomenon  had 
been  first  observed  in  the  diamond,  when  taken  into  a  dark  room 
immediately  after  exposure  to  direct  sunlight,  or  to  a  vivid  electric 
spark ;  and  was  afterward  observed  in  several  other  substances, — 
notably  in  the  chloride  of  calcium  —  "Homberg's  phosphorus." || 
It  had  also  been  shown  by  Becquerel  that  while  this  phosphores- 

*  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  Nov.  6, 1846,  vol.  iv.  pp.  287-290. 

t  Dr.  Young's  Lectures  on  Nat.  Phil.  lect.  xxxvi.  vol.  i.  p.  426.  The  equatorial  helio- 
stat appears  to  have  been  first  suggested  by  FAHRENHEIT. 

J  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  Sept.  17, 1841,  vol.  ii.  p.  97. 

jj  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  April  16,  1841,  vol.  ii.  p.  46. 

||  HOMBERG'S  phosphorus  is  a  calcium  chloride  prepared  by  melting  one  part  of 
sal  ammoniac  (ammonic  chloride)  with  two  parts  of  slaked  lime.  CANTON'S  phos- 
phorus is  a  calcium  sulphide  formed  by  a  mixture  of  three  parts  of  sifted  and  cal- 
cined oyster  shells,  and  one  part  of  flowers  of  sulphur,  exposed  for  an  hour  to  a  strong 
heat. 


268  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH   HENRY. 

cence  may  be  fully  excited  in  the  sensitive  body  by  rays  which 
have  passed  through  transparent  sulphate  of  lime,  or  through 
quartz,  the  effect  is  entirely  arrested  by  a  plate  of  transparent  mica, 
or  glass.*  Henry  by  a  long  series  of  experiments  greatly  ex- 
tended these  lists,  including  in  them  a  large  number  of  liquids. 
He  also  subjected  both  the  exciting  rays  (especially  that  of  the  elec- 
tric spark),  and  the  luminous  emanation,  to  various  treatment,  by 
reflection,  refraction,  polarization,  etc.  The  Nicol  prism  was  found 
to  obstruct  this  peculiar  exciting  ray  so  much  as  to  permit  scarcely 
any  impression ;  but  what  was  remarkable  and  unexpected,  a  pile 
of  thin  mica  plates  which  seemed  to  cut  off  entirely  the  phosphoro- 
genic  impression,  was  found  when  placed  obliquely  at  the  best 
polarizing  angle,  to  distinctly  excite  a  surviving  luminous  spot. 
On  examination  of  the  phosphorescence  excited  by  polarized  light, 
no  effect  was  perceived  by  a  rotation  of  the  analyzer :  "  when  the 
beam  was  transmitted  through  crystals  in  different  directions  with 
reference  to  their  optical  axis,  no  difference  could  be  observed." 
The  phosphorescence  was  completely  depolarized,  as  if  taking  an 
entirely  new  origin  in  the  sensitive  substance :  a  fact  re-discovered 
by  Professor  George  G.  Stokes  some  ten  years  later,  with  regard  to 
fluorescent  emanations. 

That  the  phosphorogenic  effect  does  not  depend  on  a  heating  of 
the  substance,  appeared  to  be  shown  by  the  fact  that  "the  lime 
becomes  as  luminous  under  a  plate  of  alum  as  under  a  plate  of 
rock-salt."  The  emanation  was  examined  by  a  prism  of  rock- 
crystal,  and  by  one  of  rock-salt : — science  had  not  then  the  spectro- 
scope. While  the  impression  could  be  readily  made  by  a  reflected 
beam  from  a  metallic  mirror,  it  failed  entirely  when  directed  from 
a  looking-glass.  The  luminous  effect  on  the  phosphorescent  sub- 
stance was  found  to  be  defined  in  location  by  the  form  of  the  open- 
ing made  in  sheet-metal  screens.  Different  portions  of  the  electric 
spark  being  tested  by  means  of  a  narrow  slit  in  the  screen,  the 
two  terminals  of  the  spark  were  found  to  be  much  more  active  (as 
measured  by  the  subsequent  duration  of  the  phosphorescence)  than 
the  middle  portion.  By  a  suitable  arrangement  of  double  screens 

*  That  there  should  be  such  a  difference  between  quartz  and  glass  or  mica,  is  cer- 
tainly a  remarkable  circumstance. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  269 

with  three  slits  each,  he  was  able  to  make  simultaneous  star-like 
"photographs"  on  the  substance,  of  the  two  extreme  portions  of  the 
spark  and  of  a  middle  point:  and  while  the  latter  point  "exhibited 
a  feeble  phosphorescence  for  two  or  three  seconds "  only,  the  two 
former  "continued  to  glow  for  more  than  a  minute:"  and  yet  the 
middle  of  the  spark  appeared  to  the  eye  quite  as  vivid  as  its  ex- 
tremities. It  was  also  observed  that  while  a  sensitive  daguerreo- 
type plate  received  no  impression  from  the  electric  spark,  inversely 
another  similar  plate  exposed  for  several  minutes  to  the  direct  light 
of  the  full  moon  received  a  photographic  impression,  while  the 
lime  similarly  exposed,  exhibited  no  phosphorescence.* 

As  a  striking  illustration  of  the  closely  allied  phenomenon  of 
fluorescence,  Henry  was  afterward  accustomed  on  the  occurrence 
of  a  bright  aurora,  to  expose  a  sheet  of  paper  written  or  figured 
with  a  solution  of  bisulphate  of  quinia  to  the  auroral  light,  when 
the  characters  (quite  invisible  by  lamp-light  or  even  by  day-light) 
would  distinctly  glow  with  a  pale  blue  light ;  —  indicating  the 
electrical  nature  of  the  meteor. 

In  January,  1845,  in  conjunction  with  Professor  Stephen  Alex- 
ander, he  instituted  a  series  of  experimental  observations  on  the 
relative  heat-radiating  power  of  the  solar  spots.  On  the  4th  of 
January  a  large  spot  through  which  our  terrestrial  globe  could  have 
been  freely  dropped,  (having  been  estimated  at  more  than  10,000 
miles  in  diameter,)  favorably  situated  near  the  middle  of  the  disk, 
was  examined  with  a  telescope  of  four  inches  aperture.  A  screen 
having  been  arranged  in  a  dark  room,  with  a  thermo-electric 
apparatus  behind  it  and  having  its  terminal  or  pile  just  projecting 
through  a  hole  in  the  screen,  the  image  of  the  spot  was  received  upon 
it,  giving  a  clearly  defined  outline  about  two  inches  long  and  one 
inch  and  a  half  wide.  By  a  slight  motion  of  the  telescope  the  spot 
could  readily  be  thrown  on  or  off  the  end  of  the  pile  as  desired.  A 
considerable  number  of  observations  indicated  very  clearly  by  the 

*  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  May  26,  1843,  vol.  iii.  pp.  38-44.  This  interesting  but  ob- 
scure subject  although  apparenjUy  connected  with  the  phenomenon  of  "fluores- 
cence" has  yet  an  entirely  disWnct  phase  in  its  abnormal  continuance  of  lumin- 
osity,—similar  to  the  familiar  effect  of  a  thermal  impression.  It  is  possible  how- 
ever that  the  conversion  of  wave-periodicity  (wave-length),  shown  by  Stokes  to  be 
the  characteristic  of  fluorescence,  may  require  time  for  its  full  development. 


270  MEMORIAL   OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

differing  deflections  of  the  galvanometer  needle  "that  the  spot 
emitted  less  heat  than  the  surrounding  parts  of  the  luminous  disk."* 
A  brief  account  of  the  results  obtained  by  these  researches  given  in 
a  letter  to  his  friend  Sir  David  Brewster,  was  read  by  the  latter 
at  the  Cambridge  Meeting  of  the  British  Association  in  June,  1845.f 
The  determinations  arrived  at  have  been  fully  confirmed  by  the 
later  observations  of  Secchi  and  others.  J 

In  1845,  he  contributed  a  paper  to  the  Princeton  Review,  on 
"  Color  Blindness ;"  which  although  in  the  modest  form  of  a  literary 
review  of  two  Memoirs  then  recently  published,  (that  of  Sir  David 
Brewster  in  the  Philosophical  Magazine ;  and  that  of  Professor  Elie 
Wartman,  of  Lausanne,  in  the  Scientific  Memoirs,)  supplied 
original  observations  on  this  interesting  department  of  the  physi- 
ology of  vision. 

Miscellaneous  Contributions. — Henry's  miscellaneous  contribu- 
tions to  physical  science  are  so  numerous  and  varied,  that  only  a 
brief  allusion  to  some  of  them  can  be  afforded.  In  1829,  he 
published  quite  an  elaborate  "  Topographical  sketch  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  designed  chiefly  to  show  the  general  elevations  and 
depressions  of  its  surface."  §  And  in  later  years  he  devoted  much 
attention  to  physical  geography.  He  also  made  some  geological 
explorations  and  observations  in  the  State  of  New  York.  He  per- 
formed at  various  times  a  good  deal  of  chemical  work  (chiefly  of 
an  analytical  character), — first  as  Dr.  T.  Romeyn  Beck's  assistant,  || 

*  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  June  20, 1845,  vol.  iv.  pp.  173-176. 

t  Report  Brit.  Assoc.  1845,  part  ii.  p.  6. 

JP.  ANGEL.O  SECCHI— during  the  years  1848  and  1849,  (then  a  young  man  of  thirty,) 
was  Professor  of  Mathematics  at  the  College  of  Georgetown,  D.  C.  and  in  the  pre- 
paration of  his  "  Researches  on  Electrical  Rheometry,"  published  in  the  third 
volume  of  the  Smithsonian  Contributions,  (art.  ii.  60  pp.)  he  received  from  Henry  the 
friendly  assistance  of  apparatus  and  suggestions.  It  is  interesting  to  refer  to 
Henry's  introduction  of  Professor  Secchi's  first  researches  to  the  attention  of  the 
Regents  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  when  the  name  was  as  yet  wholly  un- 
known to  the  scientific  world.  "Another  memoir  is  by  Professor  Secchi,  a  young 
Italian  of  much  ingenuity  and  learning,  a  member  of  Georgetown  College.  It 
consists  of  a  new  mathematical  investigation  of  the  reciprocal  action  of  two 
galvanic  currents  on  each  other,  and  of  the  action  of  a  current  on  the  pole  of  a 
magnet."  (Smithsonian  Report  for  1849,  p.  172,  S.  ed.  and  p.  164,  H.  R.  ed.)  Professor 
Secchi  was  appointed  Director  of  the  Observatory  at  Rome",  in  1850. 

g  Trans.  Albany  Institute,  vol.  i.  pp.  87-112. 

||  "HENRY  was  then  Dr.  BECK'S  chemical  assistant,  and  already  an  admirable 
experimentalist."  Address  before  the  Albany  Institute,  by  Dr.  O.  Meads,  May  25, 
1871.  (Trans.  Albany  Institute,  vol.  vii.  p.  21.) 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  271 

and  afterward  independently,  as  well  as  mediately  in  directing  his 
own  pupils  and  assistants.  In  1833,  he  devised  an  improvement 
on  Wollaston's  mechanical  scale  of  the  chemical  equivalents,  for  the 
benefit  of  his  pupils  in  chemistry  :  — a  contrivance  which  was  much 
used  and  highly  appreciated  at  the  time. 

The  suggestion  had  been  thrown  out  by  more  than  one  astron- 
omer, that  carefully  timed  observations  on  characteristic  meteors 
or  "shooting-stars"  might  be  made  available  for  determining 
differences  of  longitude  between  the  stations  of  observation.*  For 
many  years  however  the  proposition  had  been  generally  regarded 
as  offering  rather  a  speculative  than  a  practical  method  of  solving 
a  problem  of  so  great  nicety.  Henry  in  concert  with  his  brother- 
in-law,  Professor  Alexander,  and  with  his  friend  Professor  Bache, 
determined  to  ascertain  by  actual  trial  the  availability  and  value  of 
the  system.  On  the  25th  of  November,  1835,  Professor  Bache 
observing  at  his  residence  in  Philadelphia  (assisted  by  Professor  J. 
P.  Espy,)  —  simultaneously  with  Professor  Henry  and  Professor 
Alexander,  at  the  Philosophical  Hall  at  Princeton,  they  obtained 
seven  co-incidences: — the  instant  of  disappearance  of  the  meteor 
being  in  each  case  selected  as  the  most  accurately  attainable  epoch. 
These  seven  observations  (whose  greatest  discrepancies  amounted  to 
but  a  trifle  over  3  seconds)  gave  a  mean  result  of  2  minutes  0.61 
second  (time  longitude),  differing  only  one  second  and  two-tenths 
from  the  mean  estimate  of  relative  longitude  arrived  at  by  other 
methods,  f 

In  1840,  Henry  gave  an  account  of  "electricity  obtained  from  a 
small  ball  partly  filled  with  water,  and  heated  by  a  lamp."  J 

*"The  merit  of  first  suggesting  the  use  of  shooting-stars  and  fire-balls  as  signals 
for  the  determination  of  longitudes  is  claimed  by  Dr.  Olbers  and  the  German 
astronomers  for  BENZENBERG,  who  published  a  work  on  the  subject  in  1802.  Mr. 
Bailey  however  has  pointed  out  a  paper  published  by  Dr.  MASKEL.YNE  twenty 
years  previously,  in  which  that  illustrious  astronomer  calls  attention  to  the  sub- 
ject, and  distinctly,  points  out  this  application  of  the  phenomena."  This  was 
dated  Greenwich,  November  6th,  1783.  (L.  E.  D.  Phil.  Mag.  1841,  vol.  xix.  p.  554.) 

t Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  Dec.  20,  1839,  vol.  i.  pp.  162,  163.  "This  appears  to  have 
been  the  first  actual  determination  of  a  difference  of  longitude  by  meteoric  obser- 
vations." (L.  E.  D.  Phil.  Mag.  1841,  vol.  xix.  p.  553.)  Several  years  later  (in  1838) 
similar  meteoric  observations  were  made  between  Altona  and  Breslau;  and  also 
between  Rome  and  Naples. 

J  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  Dec.  18, 1840,  vol.  i.  p.  323. 


272  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

In  1843,  he  read  a  communication  to  the  Society,  "On  a  new 
method  of  determining  the  velocity  of  Projectiles:"  for  this  purpose 
employing  two  screens  of  fine  insulated  wire  each  in  circuit  with  a 
galvanometer,  and  at  determined  near  distances  in  the  path  of  the 
projectile;  —  whereby  the  galvanic  currents  would  be  successively 
interrupted  at  the  instants  of  penetration.  To  record  the  interval, 
each  galvanometer  needle  is  provided  at  one  end  with  a  marking 
pen  touching  a  horizontally  revolving  cylinder,  which  is  divided  by 
longitudinal  lines  into  100- equal  parts,  and  is  driven  by  clock-work 
at  the  rate  of  ten  revolutions  per  second,  giving  therefore  to  the 
interval  of  passage  between  two  consecutive  lines,  the  thousandth 
part  of  a  second.  *  Another  still  more  ingenious  method  is  sug- 
gested, whereby  the  galvanometer  may  be  dispensed  with :  each 
circuit  including  an  induction  coil,  one  end  of  whose  secondary 
circuit  is  connected  with  the  axis,  and  the  other  end  placed  very 
nearly  in  contact  with  the  surface  of  the  graduated  paper  on  the 
revolving  cylinder,  so  as  to  give  the  induction  spark  through  the 
paper  at  the  instant  of  the  interruption  of  the  primary  circuits  by 
the  projectile  passing  through  the  wire  screens.  This  is  really  a 
much  neater  and  more  direct  application  of  the  electric  interruption 
than  the  employment  of  a  galvanometer  needle  for  making  the 
record,  as  it  involves  no  material  inertia.  If  desirable,  the  cylinder 
may  be  made  to  have  a  very  slow  longitudinal  movement  by  a  screw, 
so  as  to  give  a  helical  direction  to  the  tracings;  and  different  pairs 
of  screens  similarly  arranged  at  distant  points  in  the  path  of  the 
projectile  may  be  employed  to  determine  the  variations  of  velocity 
in  its  flight,  f 

Henry  was  always  a  watchful  student  of  psychological  and.  sub- 
jective phenomena.  Witnessing  on  one  occasion  the  performance 
of  an  athlete  before  a  large  assembly,  he  noticed  with  a  curious 
interest  the  "inductive"  sympathy  manifested  by  nearly  every 
spectator  (himself  included)  in  being  swayed  by  a  movement  as  of 

*It  appears  that  WHEATSTONE  devised  his  ingenious  electromagnetic  "chrono- 
scope"  in  1840;  though  he  unfortunately  published  no  account  of  it  till  1845;  or 
two  years  after  the  publication  by  HENRY.  And  this  was  called  out  as  a  reclama- 
tion, on  the  publication  of  a  similar  invention  by  L.  BREGUET,  of  Paris,  in  January 
of  the  same  year.  See  "Supplement,"  NOTE  G. 

t  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  May  30, 1843,  vol.  iii.  pp.  165-167. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  273 

assistance  to  the  performer.  In  remarking  the  impression  of  being 
moved,  while  steadily  watching  a  series  of  passing  canal  boats,  he 
referred  the  impression  (amounting  almost  to  a  sensation  of  move- 
ment on  each  boat  reaching  a  certain  point,)  to  the  relative  angle 
of  vision  formed  by  the  moving  body. 

He  made  a  number  of  experiments  on  the  flow  of  water  jets  under 
varying  conditions  :  also  observations  on  sonorous  flames  when  pass- 
ing into  a  stove-pipe  of  eight  inches  diameter  and  about  ten  feet  in 
length :  on  the  comparative  rates  of  evaporation  from  fresh  and 
from  salt  water :  on  the  slow  evaporation  of  water  from  the  open 
end  of  a  U-shaped  tube,  and  the  much  greater  rapidity  of  evapora- 
tion when  the  tube  is  open  at  both  ends :  extended  notes  of  which, 
with  a  great  number  of  other  researches,  perished  in  the  flames. 

In  1844,  he  published  a  Syllabus  of  his  Lectures  at  Princeton. 
In  December  of  that  year  he  presented  to  the  Philosophical  Society 
a  communication  of  a  somewhat  more  theoretical  character  than 
usual, — on  the  derivation  and  classification  of  mechanical  motors. 
He  refers  these  to  two  classes ;  —  the  first,  those  derived  from  celes- 
tial disturbance  (as  water,  tide,  and  wind  powers), — and  the  second, 
those  derived  from  organic  bodies  or  forces  (as  steam  and  other  heat 
powers,  and  animal  powers).  The  forces  of  gravity,  cohesion,  and 
chemical  affinity  are  not  included,  since  these  tend  speedily  to  stable 
equilibrium;  and  they  become  sources  of  mechanical  power  only 
as  they  are  disturbed  by  some  of  those  before  mentioned.  It  is  not 
the  running  down  of  the  water-fall,  or  the  clock-weight,  which  is 
the  true  origin  of  their  useful  work,  but  the  lifting  of  them  up. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  power  derived  from  combustion.  He  then 
adds  that  his  second  class  (the  forces  derived  from  the  organic  world) 
might  perhaps  by  a  similar  process  of  reasoning  be  derived  from 
the  first  class;  (that  of  celestial  disturbance;)  —  regarding  "animal 
power  as  referable  to  the  same  sources  as  that  from  the  combustion 
of  fuel,"  and  the  action  of  the  vegetative  power  as  "  a  force  derived 
from  the  divellent  power  of  the  sunbeam,"  being  simply  a  case  of 
solar  de-oxidation.  Organism — vegetable  and  animal,  he  considers 
as  built  up  under  the  direction  of  a  vital  principle,  which  is  not 
itself  a  mechanical  force.  Volcanic  power  is  neglected  as  compara- 
18 


274  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

lively  feeble  and  limited,  and  not  practically  utilized.*  This  inter- 
esting digest  presents  one  of  the  earliest  and  clearest  theoretical 
statements  we  have,  of  the  correlation  and  transformation  of  the 
physical  forces;  including  with  these  the  so-called  organic  forces. 

ADMINISTRATION   OF   THE   SMITHSONIAN   INSTITUTION. 

By  an  Act  of  Congress  approved  August  10,  1846,  the  liberal 
bequest  to  the  United  States,  for  the  promotion  of  Science>  by  James 
Smithson  of  London,  England,  was  appropriated  to  the  foundation 
of  the  Institution  bearing  his  name ;  the  establishment  being  made 
to  comprise  the  chief  dignitaries  of  the  Government  as  the  super- 
vising body,  and  a  Board  of  Regents  being  created  for  conducting 
the  business  of  the  Institution  after  completing  its  organization. 
As  the  testator  had  bequeathed  his  fortune,  f  in  simple  terms  "for 
the  increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge  among  men,"  there  arose 
not  unnaturally  a  great  diversity  of  opinion  both  among  Congress- 
men, and  among  the  Regents,  as  to  the  most  desirable  method  of 
executing  the  purpose  of  the  Will:  and  the  organizing  Act  was 
itself  a  sort  of  compromise,  after  many  years  of  discussion  and 
disagreement  in  both  branches  of  Congress.  To  literary  men,  no 
instrument  of  knowledge  could  be  so  important  as  an  extensive 
Library :  — to  the  professional,  a  seat  of  education  or  public  instruc- 
tion— general  or  special — supplemented  by  elaborate  courses  of 
public  lectures,  appeared  the  obvious  and  necessary  means  of  dif- 
fusing useful  learning, —  to  the  "practical,"  a  large  agricultural 
and  polytechnic  institute — supplemented  perhaps  by  a  museum, 
was  the  only  fitting  plan  of  developing  the  resources  of  our  coun- 
try: —  to  the  artistic,  extensive  galleries  of  art  were  the  most  worthy 
and  instructive  objects  of  patronage.  The  Regents  sought  counsel 
from  the  distinguished  and  the  learned :  and  several  of  them  applied 
to  Professor  Henry  for  his  opinion.  He  gave  the  subject  a  careful 

*  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  Dec.  20,  1844,  vol.  iv.  pp.  127-129.  This  appears  to  be  the 
first  —  as  it  is  probably  the  best — analysis  of  physical  energy,  which  has  been 
proposed.  Twenty  years  later,  a  similar  analysis  (with  certainly  no  improvement 
in  the  classification)  was  adopted  by  Professor  Tait,  in  an  essay  on  "Energy;" 
(North  British  Review,  1864,  vol.  xl.  art.  iii.  p.  191,  of  Am.  edition  :)  and  by  Dr.  Balfour 
Stewart,  in  his  Elementary  Treatise  on  Heat,  Oxford,  1866:  (book  iii.  chap.  v.  art.  388, 
p.  354.) 

fThe  whole  amount  of  the  bequest  was  a  trifle  over  100,000  pounds,  or  about 
540,000  dollars. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  275 

consideration;  and  announced  very  decided  views.  As  Smithson 
was  a  man  of  scientific  culture,  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society,  an 
expert  analytical  chemist,  and  devoted  to  original  research,  Henry 
held  that  the  language  of  his  "Will  must  receive  its  most  accurate 
and  scientific  and  at  the  same  time  most  comprehensive  interpreta- 
tion ;  that  the  words  "  increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge  among 
men"  Avere  deliberately  and  intelligently  employed;  and  that  no 
local  or  even  national  interests  were  as  broad  as  its  terms,-^that  no 
merely  educational  projects  of  whatever  character,  no  schemes  of 
material  and  practical  advancement  however  useful,  could  justly 
be  regarded  as  fulfilling  the  obvious  intent — expressed  by  a  scien- 
tific thinker  and  Avriter  —  first  of  all  the  increase  of  knowledge  by 
the  promotion  of  original  research, —  the  addition  of  new  truths  to 
the  existing  stock  of  knowledge,  and  secondly — its  widest  possible 
diffusion  among  mankind.* 

These  wise  and  far-reaching  views  exerted  a  marked  influence; 
and  though  hardly  then  in  accord  with  the  opinion  of  the  majority, 
yet  led  to  his  election  December  3d,  1846,  as  the  "  Secretary  "  and 
actual  Director  of  the  infant  institution,  f  A  second  time  was 
Henry  called  upon  to  sever  dearly  prized  associations, — the  pros- 
perous and  congenial  pursuits  of  fourteen  years  within  the  classic 
halls  of  Princeton.  One  motive  turned  the  wavering  scale.  Here 
was  a  rare  occasion  offered  by  the  enlightened  provision  of  James 
Smithson,  to  secure  for  abstract  science  and  unpromising  original 
research,  a  much  needed  encouragement  and  support ;  and  an  obli- 
gation imposed  upon  the  scientific  few  to  resist  and  if  possible 
prevent  the  perversion  of  the  trust  to  the  merely  popular  uses  of 
the  short-sighted  many.  That  years  would  be  required  for  shaping 
the  character  and  conduct  of  the  institution  as  he  desired,  was 
certain; — that  this  could  not  be  effected  without  much  opposition 
and  various  obstacle,  he  very  clearly  foresaw.  That  during  these 
years  of  active  supervision  and  direction,  he  must  abandon  all  hope 
of  personal  opportunity  for  original  research,  he  as  freely  accepted 
in  the  expressive  remark  made  to  a  trusted  friend  in  consultation  on 

*" Programme  of  Organization,"  Smithsonian  Report  for  1847.  See  "Supple- 
ment," NOTE  H. 

fSee  "Supplement,"  NOTE  I. 


276  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

the  occasion :  "  If  I  go,  I  shall  probably  exchange  permanent  fame 
for  transient  reputation." 

With  the  assurance  of  the  Trustees  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey, 
that  should  he  fail  to  realize  his  programme,  or  should  he  satisfac- 
torily accomplish  his  apostolic  purpose,  his  chair  should  always  be 
at  his  command,  with  a  hearty  welcome  back,  Henry,  neither  spurred 
by  over-confidence,  nor  depressed  with  undue  timidity,  though  filled 
with  anxious  solicitude  for  the  future,  accepted  the  appointment 
tendered  to  him.  He  removed  with  his  family  to  Washington, 
December  14,  1846,  and  at  once  commenced  his  administration  of 
the  duties  assigned  to  him  by  the  Regents  of  the  Institution. 

Summoned  thus  to  the  occupancy  of  a  new  and  untried  field,  and 
to  the  discharge  of  essentially  executive  functions,  he  from  the  first 
displayed  a  clearness  and  promptness  of  judgment,  a  singleness  and 
steadiness  of  aim,  a  firmness  and  consistency  of  decision,  combined 
with  a  practical  sagacity  and  moderation  in  adapting  his  course  to 
the  exigencies  of  adverse  conditions,  which  stamped  him  as  a  most 
able  and  successful  administrator.  Without  concealment  and  with- 
out diplomacy,  his  distinctly  avowed  principle  of  action  was  steadily 
and  patiently  pursued.  *  With  honest  submission  to  the  controlling 
Act  of  Congress,  he  made  as  honest  avowal  of  his  desire  and  of 
his  endeavor  to  have  that  legislation  modified.  Hampered  by  pro- 
visions he  deemed  unwise  and  injurious,  he  yet  skillfully  managed 
to  reconcile  contestant  interests,  and  to  secure  the  entire  confidence 
and  concurrence  of  the  Regents.  Henceforth  his  purpose  and  his 
effort  were  to  be  directed  to  the  unique  object  of  encouraging  and 
fostering  the  development  of  what  has  so  flippantly  been  designated 
"useless  knowledge;"  and  merging  self  in  the  community  of  physi- 
cal inquirers  and  collaborators,  to  become  the  high-priest  of  abstract 
investigation; — prepared  to  lend  all  practicable  assistance  to  that 
small  but  earnest  band  of  nature-students,  who  inspired  by  no  aims 
of  material  utility,  seek  from  their  mistress  as  the  only  reward  of 
their  devotion,  a  closer  intimacy,  a  higher  knowledge  of  truth.f 

*See  "Supplement,"  NOTE  J. 

t HENRY  has  finely  said:  "Let  censure  or  ridicule  fall  elsewhere,— on  those 
whose  lives  are  passed  without  labor  and  without  object;  but  let  praise  and  honor 
be  bestowed  on  him  who  seeks  with  unwearied  patience  to  develop  the  order, 
harmony,  and  beauty  of  even  the  smallest  part  of  God's  creation.  A  life  devoted 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  277 

Of  the  two  distinct  objects  of  endowment  specified  by  Smithson's 
"Will,  —  "the  increase — and  the  diffusion  —  of  knowledge,"  Henry 
forcibly  remarked:  "These  though  frequently  confounded,  are  very 
different  processes,  and  each  may  exist  independent  of  the  other. 
While  we  rejoice  that  in  our  country  above  all  others,  so  much 
attention  is  paid  to  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  truth  compels  us  to 
say  that  comparatively  little  encouragement  is  given  to  its  increase.* 
There  is  another  division  with  regard  to  knowledge  which  Smithson 
does  not  embrace  in  his  design ;  viz.  the  application  of  knowledge 
to  useful  purposes  in  the  arts.  And  it  was  not  necessary  he  should 
found  an  institution  for  this  purpose.  There  are  already  in  every 
civilized  country,  establishments  and  patent  laws  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  this  department  of  mental  industry.  As  soon  as  any 
branch  of  science  can  be  brought  to  bear  on  the  necessities,  con- 
veniences, or  luxuries  of  life,  it  meets  with  encouragement  and 
reward.  Not  so  with  the  discovery  of  the  incipient  principles  of 
science.  The  investigations  which  lead  to  these,  receive  no  fostering 
care  from  Government,  and  are  considered  by  the  superficial  observer 
as  trifles  unworthy  the  attention  of  those  who  place  the  supreme 
good  in  that  which  immediately  administers  to  the  physical  needs 
or  luxuries  of  life.  If  physical  well-being  were  alone  the  object 
of  existence,  every  avenue  of  enjoyment  should  be  explored  to  its 
utmost  extent.  But  he  who  loves  truth  for  its  own  sake,  feels  that 
its  highest  claims  are  lowered  and  its  moral  influence  marred  by 
being  continually  summoned  to  the  bar  of  immediate  and  palpable 
utility.  Smithson  himself  had  no  such  narrow  views.f  The  promi- 

exclusively  to  the  study  of  a  single  insect,  is  not  spent  in  vain.  No  animal  how- 
ever insignificant  is  isolated;  it  forms  a  part  of  the  great  system  of  nature,  and  is 
governed  by  the  same  general  laws  which  control  the  most  prominent  beings  of 
the  organic  world."  (Smithsonian  Report  for  1855,  p.  20.) 

*[SWAINSON  the  Naturalist,  the  countryman  and  friend  of  Smithson,  has  very 
pointedly  marked  this  recognized  distinction.  "The  constitution  of  the  Zoological 
Society  is  of  a  very  mixed  nature,  admirably  adapted  indeed  to  the  reigning  taste. 
It  is  more  calculated  however  to  diffuse  than  to  increase  the  actual  stock  of  scien- 
tific knowledge."  (Discourse  on  the  Study  of  Natural  History,  Cabinet  Cyclopaedia, 
16mo.  London,  1834,  part  iv.  chap.  i.  sec.  221,  p.  314.)  And  again :  "  It  is  very  essential 
when  we  speak  of  the  diffusion  or  extension  of  science,  that  we  do  not  confound 
these  stages  of  development  with  discovery  or  advancement;  since  the  latter  may 
be  as  different  from  the  former  as  depth  is  from  shallowness."  (Same  work,  part 
iv.  chap.  ii.  sec.  240,  p.  343.)  ] 

t[In  regard  to  the  value  of  scientific  truth,  SMITHSON  in  a  communication 
dated  June  10th,  1824,  has  forcibly  expressed  his  strong  "conviction  that  it  is  in  his 


278  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

nent  design  of  his  bequest  is  the  promotion  of  abstract  science.  In 
this  respect  the  Institution  holds  an  otherwise  unoccupied  place  in 
this  country ;  and  it  adopts  two  fundamental  maxims  in  its  policy ; 
—  first  to  do  nothing  with  its  funds  which  can  be  equally  well  done 
by  other  means;  and  second  to  produce  results  which  as  far  as  pos- 
sible will  benefit  mankind  in  general."  * 

Congress  —  naturally  with  a  prevailing  tendency  to  the  literary, 
the  showy,  and  the  popular,  had  (after  eight  years  of  dilatory  con- 
troversy) directed  in  its  organizing  Act  (sec.  5,)  the  erection  of  a 
building  "of  sufficient  size,  and  with  suitable  rooms  or  halls  for  the 
reception  and  arrangement  upon  a  liberal  scale,  of  objects  of  natural 
history,  including  a  geological  and  mineralogical  cabinet,  also  a 
chemical  laboratory,  a  library,  a  gallery  of  art,  and  the  necessary 
lecture-rooms.'7  By  the  9th  section  of  the  Act,  the  Board  of  Re- 
gents were  authorized  to  expend  the  remaining  income  of  the  endow- 
ment "  as  they  shall  deem  best  suited  for  the  promotion  of  the  pur- 
pose of  the  testator."  Out  of  an  annual  income  of  some  40,000 
dollars,  the  Regents  in  full  accord  with  their  Secretary  (whose  care- 
fully elaborated  programme  they  officially  adopted  December  13, 
1847,)  succeeded  in  creditably  inaugurating  all  the  objects  specified 
in  the  charter;  and  at  the  same  time  in  establishing  the  system  of 
publication  of  original  Memoirs,  to  which  Henry  justly  attached 
the  first  importance. 

An  incident  in  itself  too  slight  to  produce  a  visible  ripple  on  the 
current  of  Henry's  life,  is  yet  too  characteristic  to  be  here  omitted. 
Dr.  Robert  Hare  having  in  1847  decided  upon  resigning  his 
Professorship  of  Chemistry  in  the  Medical  Department  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  (the  largest  and  best  patronized  in  the 
country,)  the  vacant  chair  was  tendered  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  to 
Professor  Henry.  His  friend  Dr.  Hare  himself  used  his  influence 
to  induce  Henry  to  become  his  successor ;  particularly  dwelling  on 
the  large  amount  of  leisure  afforded  for  independent  investigations. 

knowledge  that  man  has  found  his  greatness  and  his  happiness,  the  high  superi- 
ority which  he  holds  over  the  other  animals  who  inhabit  the  earth  with  him; 
and  consequently  that  no  ignorance  is  probably  without  loss  to  him,  no  error 
without  evil."  (Thomson's  Annals  of  Philosophy,  1824,  vol.  xxiv.  or  new  series,  vol. 
viii.  p.  54.)] 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1853,  p.  8. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  279 

The  income  of  this  professorship  was  more  than  double  the  salary  of 
the  Smithsonian  Secretaryship.  The  position,  tempting  as  it  might 
have  been  under  different  circumstances,  was  however  declined. 
Henry  felt  that  to  leave  his  present  post  before  his  cherished  policy 
was  fairly  settled  and  established,  would  be  most  probably  to  abandon 
nearly  all  the  results  of  the  experiment:  and  having  set  before  him- 
self the  one  great  object  of  directing  the  resources  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution  as  far  as  possible  to  the  advancement  of  science,  in  con- 
formity with  the  undoubted  intention  of  its  founder,  (and  as  the 
execution  therefore  of  a  sacred  trust,)  he  resolutely  put  aside  every 
inducement  that  might  divert  him  from  the  fulfillment  of  his  task.  * 

Of  the  half  a,  dozen  objects  of  attention  specified  in  the  5th  section 
of  the  organizing  Act,  (the  various  inspiration  of  different  partisans,) 
not  one  directly  tended  to  further  the  primary  requirements  of  the 
Will :  —  even  the  Laboratory  being  avowedly  introduced  simply 
as  a  utilitarian  workshop  for  mining  and  agricultural  analyses. 
Regarded  as  methods  of  diffusing  existing  knowledge  they  were 
obviously  local  and  limited  in  their  range :  and  as  compared  with 
the  instrumentality  of  the  Press,  were  certainly  very  inefficient  for 
spreading  the  benefits  of  the  endowment  among  men.  f 

Henry  with  a  rare  courage  dared  maintain  against  most  powerful 
influence,  that  the  interests  specifically  designated  must  all  be 
subordinated  to  the  fundamental  requirement,  the  promotion  of 

*Some  six  years  later,  a  somewhat  similar  temptation  was  presented.  In  1853, 
on  the  resignation  of  President  Carnahan  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey  at  Prince- 
ton, an  effort  was  made  to  induce  the  return  of  Professor  Henry  to  his  academic 
seatfby  a  movement  to  obtain  for  him  the  Presidency  of  the  College.  Such  a 
token  of  affectionate  remembrance  could  not  but  be  grateful  and  touching  to  his 
feelings;  but  a  sense  of  obligation  was  upon  him,  not  to  be  laid  aside.  He  had 
undertaken  a  work  and  a  responsibility  which  must  not  be  left  to  the  hazard  of 
failure.  He  declined  the  proffered  honor—  with  thanks;  and  warmly  recommended 
Dr.  Maclean  to  the  vacant  position :  who  thereupon  was  duly  elected.  (Maclean's 
Hist,  of  College  of  New  Jersey,  vol.  ii.  p.  336.) 

f'The  objects  specified  in  the  Act  of  Congress  evidently  do  not  come  up  to  the 
idea  of  the  testator  as  deduced  from  a  critical  examination  of  his  will.  A  library, 
a  museum,  a  gallery  of  arts,  though  important  in  themselves,  are  local  in  their 
influence.  I  have  from  the  beginning  advocated  this  opinion  on  all  occasions,  and 
shall  continue  to  advocate  it  whenever  a  suitable  opportunity  occurs."  (Smith- 
sonian Report  for  1853,  p.  122  (of  Senate  edit.)-p.  117  (of  H.  Rep.  edit.)  The  superficial 
pretext  was  not  wanting  on  the  part  of  some,  that  the  words  "  increase  and  diffu- 
sion" were  not  to  be  taken  too  literally,  but  to  be  considered  as  the  tautology  of 
legal  equivalents,  applicable  to  the  development  of  the  individual  mind;  since 
school-boys  (if  not  the  pundits)  were  evidently  capable  of  an  "increase"  of 
knowledge. 


280  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

original  research  for  increasing  knowledge :  and  that  this  was 
amply  sustained  by  the  residuary  grant  of  authority  to  the  Regents 
(under  the  9th  section  of  the  Act)  "to  make  such  disposal  as  they 
shall  deem  best  suited  for  the  promotion  of  the  purposes  of  the  testator, 
anything  herein  contained  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding/7  of  any 
income  of  the  Smithsonian  fund  "  not  herein  appropriated,  or  not 
required  for  the  purposes  herein  provided."  Henry's  carefully 
studied  programme  comprised  two  sections:  the  first,  embracing 
the  details  of  the  plan  for  carrying  out  the  explicit  purpose  of 
Smithson ;  the  second,  indicating  the  proper  steps  for  carrying  out 
the  provisions  of  the  Act  of  Congress.  The  first  and  principal 
section  proposed  as  methods  of  promoting  research,  —  the  stimula- 
tion of  particular  investigations  by  special  premiums,  —  the  publi- 
cation of  such  original  memoirs  furnishing  positive  additions  to 
knowledge  by  experiment  and  observation  as  should  be  approved 
by  a  commission  of  experts  in  each  case,  —  the  active  direction  of 
certain  investigations  by  the  provision  of  instruments  as  well  as  of 
the  necessary  means,  the  appropriations  being  judiciously  varied  in 
distribution  from  year  to  year,  —  the  prosecution  of  experimental 
determinations  and  the  solution  of  physical  problems,  —  the  exten- 
sion of  ethnology  (especially  American),  and  in  general  the  conduct 
of  such  varied  explorations  as  should  ultimately  result  in  a  complete 
physical  atlas  of  the  United  States.  As  methods  of  promoting  the 
diffusion  of  knowledge,  it  was  proposed  to  give  a  wide  circulation 
to  the  published  original  memoirs  or  Smithsonian  tf  Contributions 
to  Knowledge"  among  domestic  and  foreign  libraries,  institutions, 
and  scientific  correspondents,  to  have  prepared  by  qualified  collab- 
orators, series  of  careful  reports  on  the  latest  progress  of  science  in 
different  departments,  and  to  provide  facilities  for  the  distribution 
and  exchange  of  scientific  memoirs  generally. 

It  is  unnecessary  here  to  follow  closely  the  slow  steps  by  which  — 
through  all  the  obstructions  of  narrow  prejudice  and  ignorant  mis- 
construction, of  selfish  interest  and  pretended  philanthropy,  of 
friendly  remonstrance  and  hostile  denunciation,  —  the  policy  origin- 
ally marked  out  by  the  Secretary  was  with  unwavering  resolution 
and  imperturbable  equanimity  steadily  pursued,  until  it  gained  its 


DISCOUESE   OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  281 

assured  success ;  the  vindication  and  the  unpretentious  triumph  of 
"  the  just  man  tenacious  of  purpose." 

The  most  formidable  of  the  specialist  schemes  both  in  Congress 
and  elsewhere,  was  that  of  the  Library  faction,  which  prosecuted 
with  remarkable  zeal  and  energy,  threatened  by  the  acknowledged 
ability  of  its  leading  advocates  to  control  the  action  of  the  Regents, 
even  to  the  neglect  and  abandonment  of  all  the  other  interests 
indicated  by  the  statute.  *  In  Henry's  judgment  the  Institution 
should  possess  simply  a  working  library,  an  auxiliary  for  those 
engaged  in  scientific  research,  a  repertory  well  supplied  with  the 
published  Proceedings  and  Transactions  of  learned  Societies,  but 
which  so  far  from  aiming  at  an  encyclopaedic  or  a  literary  character, 
should  be  mainly  supplementary  to  the  large  National  Library 
already  established  at  the  Capital,  f  "  The  idea  ought  never  to  be 
entertained  that  the  portion  of  the  limited  income  of  the  Smith- 
sonian fund  which  can  be  devoted  to  the  purchase  of  books  will 
ever  be  sufficient  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  American  scholar.  On 
the  contrary  it  is  the  duty  of  this  Institution  to  increase  those  wants 
by  pointing  out  new  fields  for  exploration,  and  by  stimulating  other 
researches  than  those  which  are  now  cultivated.  It  is  a  part  of  that 
duty  to  make  the  value  of  libraries  more  generally  known,  and  their 
want  in  this  country  more  generally  felt."  J 

Processes  of  Divestment. — Henry's  declaration  that  the  moderate 
means  at  command  were  insufficient  to  support  worthily  either  a 
Library,  or  a  Museum,  alone,  was  early  justified.  The  Library 
though  slowly  formed  of  only  really  valuable  scientific  works,  and 
this  largely  by  exchanges  with  the  Smithsonian  publications,  §  in 

*See  "Supplement,"  NOTE  K. 

f'To  carry  on  the  operations  of  the  first  section  a  working  library  will  be  re- 
quired, consisting  of  the  past  volumes  of  the  transactions  and  proceedings  of  all 
the  learned  societies  in  every  language.  These  are  the  original  sources  from  which 
the  most  important  principles  of  the  positive  knowledge  of  our  day  have  been 
drawn."  (Smithsonian  Report  for  1847,  p.  139  of  Sen.  ed.— p.  131  of  H.  Rep.  ed.) 

}  Smithsonian  Report  for  1851,  p.  224  (of  Sen.  ed.)— p.  21G  (of  H.  Rep.  ed.) 

g"It  is  the  intention  of  the  Regents  to  render  the  Smithsonian  library  the 
most  extensive  and  perfect  collection  of  Transactions  and  scientific  works  in  this 
country,  and  this  it  will  be  enabled  to  accomplish  by  means  of  its  exchanges, 
which  will  furnish  it  with  all  the  current  journals  and  publications  of  societies, 
while  the  separate  series  may  be  completed  in  due  time  as  opportunity  and  means 
may  offer.  The  Institution  has  already  more  complete  sets  of  Transactions  of 
learned  societies  than  are  to  be  found  in  the  oldest  libraries  in  the  United  States." 
(Smithsonian  Report  for  1855,  p.  29.) 


282  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

the  course  of  a  dozen  years  amounted  to  about  40,000  volumes: 
and  the  annual  cost  of  binding,  superintendence,  and  the  constant 
enlargement  of  room  and  of  cases,  was  becoming  a  serious  tax  upon 
the  resources  of  the  Institution.  The  propriety  of  transferring  the 
custody  of  this  valuable  and  rapidly  increasing  collection  to  the 
National  Library  established  by  Congress,  was  repeatedly  urged 
upon  the  attention  of  that  body :  and  by  an  Act  approved  April 
5th,  1866,  such  transfer  was  at  last  effected. 

"  Congress  had  presented  to  the  Institution  a  portion  of  the  pub- 
lic reservation  on  which  the  building  is  situated.  In  the  planting 
of  this  with  trees,  nearly  10,000  dollars  of  the  Smithson  income 
were  expended."  Ultimately  however  opportunity  was  taken  to 
have  the  Smithsonian  park  included  in  the  general  appropriation 
by  the  Government  for  improving  the  public  grounds. 

The  courses  of  Lectures  which  were  continued  from  their  estab- 
lishment in  1849,  to  1863,  were  then  abandoned.  In  conformity 
with  the  judicious  policy  entertained  from  the  beginning  not  to 
consume  unprofitably  the  limited  means  of  the  Institution  by 
attempting  to  do  what  could  be  as  well  or  better  accomplished 
by  other  organizations,  its  herbarium  comprising  30,000  botanical 
specimens  and  other  allied  objects,  was  transferred  to  the  custody 
of  the  Agricultural  Department.  Its  collection  of  anatomical  and 
osteological  specimens  was  transferred  to  the  Army  Medical  Mu- 
seum. And  its  Fine-Art  collections  were  transferred  to  the  custody 
of  the  "Art-Gallery"  established  at  Washington  (with  a  larger 
endowment  than  the  whole  Smithsonian  fund)  by  the  enlightened 
liberality  of  Mr.  W.  W.  Corcoran. 

Such  were  the  successive  processes  by  which  much  of  the  early 
and  injudicious  legislative  work  of  organization,  intended  for  pop- 
ularising the  activities  of  the  Institution,  was  gradually  undone; 
greatly  to  the  dissatisfaction  and  foreboding  of  many  of  its  well- 
meaning  friends.  "It  should  be  recollected"  said  Henry,  "that 
the  Institution  is  not  a  popular  establishment."* 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1876,  p.  12.  A  distinguished  politician,  now  many  years 
deceased,  (an  influential  Member  of  Congress — and  possible  statesman,)  in  the  con- 
fidence of  friendship  pointed  out  with  emphasis,  how  by  a  few  judicious  expedi- 
ents—  involving  only  a  moderate  reduction  of  the  income  of  the  Institution,  golden 
opinions  might  be  won  from  the  press,  and  the  Smithsonian  really  be  made  quite 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  283 

The  National  Museum. — The  last  heritage  of  misdirected  legisla- 
tion—  the  National  Museum,  still  remains  in  nominal  connection 
with  the  Institution;  although  Congress  has  recognized  the  justice 
of  making  special  provision  for  its  custody  by  an  annual  appropria- 
tion ever  since  its  establishment  in  1842, —  four  years  before  the 
organization  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  The  Government 
collection  of  curiosities  had  accumulated  from  the  contributions  of 
the  various  exploring  expeditions;  and  Henry  from  the  first,  had 
objected  to  receiving  it  as  a  donation,  foreseeing  that  it  would  prove 
more  than  "the  gift  of  an  elephant."*  In  his  first  Report,  he 
ventured  to  say :  "  It  is  hoped  that  in  due  time  other  means  may 
be  found  of  establishing  and  supporting  a  general  collection  of 
objects  of  nature  and  art  at  the  seat  of  the  general  Government, 
with  funds  not  derived  from  the  Smithsonian  bequest."f  In  his 
third  annual  Report  he  remarked :  "  The  formation  of  a  Museum 
of  objects  of  nature  and  of  art  requires  much  caution.  With  a 
given  income  to  be  appropriated  to  the  purpose,  a  time  must  come 
when  the  cost  of  keeping  the  objects  will  just  equal  the  amount  of 
the  appropriation:  after  this  no  further  increase  can  take  place. 
Also,  the  tendency  of  an  institution  of  this  kind  unless  guarded 
against,  will  be  to  expend  its  funds  on  a  heterogeneous  collection 
of  objects  of  mere  curiosity."  Justly  jealous  of  any  dependence 
of  the  Institution,  designed  as  a  monument  to  its  founder,  upon 
the  varying  favors  or  caprices  of  a  political  government,  or  of  any 
confusion  between  the  National  Museum,  and  its  own  special  collec- 
tions for  scientific  study  rather  than  for  popular  display,  he  added: 
"If  the  Regents  accept  this  Museum,  it  must  be  merged  in  the 
Smithsonian  collections.  It  could  not  be  the  intention  of  Congress 

a  "popular"  establishment.  Unseduced  by  these  friendly  suggestions  of  worldly 
wisdom,  Henry  astonished  his  adviser  by  the  smiling  assurance  that  his  self- 
imposed  mission  and  deliberate  purpose  was  to  prevent,  as  far  as  in  him  lay, 
precisely  that  consummation.  Had  the  philosopher  repudiated  the  "breath  of  his 
nostrils"  he  could  not  have  been  looked  upon  by  the  politician,  as  more  hope- 
lessly demented. 

*His  friend  Professor  Silliman  in  a  letter  dated  December  4th  1847,  wrote:  "If 
it  is  within  the  views  of  the  Government  to  bestow  the  National  Museum  upon 
the  Smithsonian  Institution,  the  very  bequest  would  seem  to  draw  after  it  an 
obligation  to  furnish  the  requisite  accommodations  without  taxing  the  Smithso- 
nian funds:  otherwise  the  gift  might  be  detrimental  instead  of  beneficial." 

t Smithsonian  Report  for  1847,  p.  139  (Sen.  ed.)— p.  132  (H.  Rep.  ed.) 


284  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

that  an  Institution  founded  by  the  liberality  of  a  foreigner,  and  to 
which  he  has  affixed  his  own  name,  should  be  charged  with  the 
keeping  of  a  separate  Museum,  the  property  of  the  United  States. 
-  -  -  The  small  portion  of  our  funds  which  can  be  devoted  to 
a  museum  may  be  better  employed  in  collecting  new  objects,  such 
as  have  not  yet  been  studied,  than  in  preserving  those  from  which 
the  harvest  of  discovery  has  already  been  fully  gathered."  Nor 
was  he  reconciled  to  the  gift  by  the  suggestion  that  a  suitable  appro- 
priation would  be  granted  by  the  National  Government,  for  the 
expense  of  its  custody.  "This  would  be  equally  objectionable; 
since  it  would  annually  bring  the  Institution  before  Congress  as  a 
supplicant  for  government  patronage/'51 

In  his  Report  for  1851,  he  forcibly  stated  in  regard  to  the  require- 
ments of  a  general  Museum,  that  "the  whole  income  devoted  to 
this  object  would  be  entirely  inadequate : "  and  he  strongly  urged 
a  National  establishment  of  the  Museum  on  a  basis  and  a  scale 
which  should  be  an  honor  and  a  benefit  to  the  people  and  their 
Capital  city.  "  Though  the  formation  of  a  general  collection  is 
neither  within  the  means  nor  the  province  of  the  Institution,  it  is 
an  object  which  ought  to  engage  the  attention  of  Congress.  A 
general  Museum  appears  to  be  a  necessary  establishment  at  the  seat 
of  government  of  every  civilized  nation.  -  -  An  establish- 

ment of  this  kind  can  only  be  supported  by  Government ;  and  the 
proposition  ought  never  to  be  encouraged  of  putting  this  duty  on 
the  limited  though  liberal  bequest  of  a  foreigner.'^  This  policy 
was  urged  in  almost  every  subsequent  Report.  "  There  can  be  but 
little  doubt  that  in  due  time  ample  provision  will  be  made  for  a 
Library  and  Museum  at  the  Capital  of  this  Union,  worthy  of  a 
Government  whose  perpetuity  depends  upon  the  virtue  and  intelli- 
gence of  the  people.  It  is  therefore  unwise  to  hamper  the  more 
important  objects  of  this  Institution  by  attempting  to  anticipate 
results  which  will  be  eventually  produced  without  the  expenditure 
of  its  means."  J  "The  importance  of  a  collection  at  the  seat  of 
government,  to  illustrate  the  physical  geography,  natural  history, 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1849,  pp.  181, 182  (of  Sen.  ed.)— pp.  173, 174  (of  H.  Rep.  ed.) 
t Smithsonian  Report  for  1851,  p.  227  (of  Sen.  ed.)— p.  219  (of  H.  Rep.  ed.) 
I  Smithsonian  Report  for  1852,  p.  253  (of  Sen.  ed.)— p.  245  (of  H.  Rep.  ed.) 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  285 

and  ethnology,  of  the  United  States,  cannot  be  too  highly  estimated: 
but  the  support  of  such  a  collection  ought  not  to  be  a  burden  upon 
the  Smithsonian  fund."  * 

The  popular  mind  did  not  however  appear  to  be  prepared  to 
accept  these  earnest  presentations;  and  in  1858,  the  National 
Museum  was  transferred  by  law  to  the  custody  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  with  the  same  annual  appropriation  (4,000  dollars) 
which  had  been  granted  to  the  United  States  Patent  Office  when  in 
charge  of  it. 

So  rapidly  were  the  treasures  of  the  Museum  increased  by  the 
gathered  fruits  of  various  government  explorations  and  surveys, 
as  well  as  by  the  voluntary  contributions  of  the  numerous  and 
wide-spread  tributaries  of  the  Institution,  that  the  policy  was  early 
adopted  of  freely  distributing  duplicate  specimens  to  other  institu- 
tions where  they  would  be  most  appreciated  and  most  usefully 
applied.  And  in  this  way  the  Smithsonian  became  a  valuable 
center  of  diffusion  of  the  means  of  investigation  in  geology,  miner- 
alogy, botany,  zoology,  and  archaeology. f  The  clear  foresight  which 
announced  that  the  Museum  must  very  soon  outgrow  the  entire 
capacity  of  the  Smithsonian  resources,  has  been  most  amply  vindi- 
cated :J  and  to-day  a  large  Government  building  is  stored  from 
basement  to  attic,  with  boxed  up  rarities  of  art  and  nature,  suffi- 
cient more  than  twice  to  fill  the  Smithsonian  halls  and  galleries, 
in  addition  to  their  present  overflowing  display.  §  The  strong  desire 
of  Henry  to  see  established  in  Washington  a  National  Museum  on 
a  scale  worthy  of  our  resources,  and  in  which  the  existing  over- 
grown collections  might  be  so  beneficially  exhibited,  he  did  not  live 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1853,  p.  11  (of  Sen.  ed.)— p.  9  (of  H.  Rep.  ed.) 

fSee  "Supplement,"  NOTE  L. 

JFrom  the  rapid  growth  of  the  national  collection  after  it  was  transferred  to 
the  custody  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  the  annual  appropriation  of  4,000  dol- 
lars by  Congress  very  soon  became  wholly  insufficient  to  defray  even  one-half  its 
necessary  expenses.  A  memorial  signed  by  the  Chancellor  and  the  Secretary, 
was  presented  to  Congress  May  1,  1868,  in  which  the  memorialists  "beg  leave  to 
represent  on  behalf  of  the  Board  of  Regents,  that  the  usual  annual  appropriation 
of  4,000  dollars  is  wholly  inadequate  to  the  cost  of  preparing,  preserving,  and 
exhibiting  the  specimens;  — the  actual  expenditure  for  that  purpose,  in  1867, 
having  been  over  12,000  dollars."  (Smithsonian  Report  for  1867,  p.  115.)  It  was  not 
however  till  1871  that  the  appropriation  was  raised  to  10,000  dollars.  In  1873,  It 
was  increased  to  15,000  dollars,  and  in  1875,  to  20,000  dollars. 

§  See  "Supplement,"  NOTE  M. 


286  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

to  see  gratified.  That  the  realization  of  this  beneficent  project  is 
only  a  question  of  time,  is  little  doubtful ;  for  it  cannot  be  supposed 
that  collections  so  valuable,  and  so  manifestly  beyond  the  capacities 
of  the  Institution,  will  be  suffered  to  waste  in  uselessness:  And 
when  established,  its  being  and  its  benefits  will  in  no  small  degree 
be  due  to  him  who  first  realizing  its  necessity,  and  most  appre- 
ciating its  importance,  with  unwearying  perseverance  for  twenty- 
five  years  omitted  no  opportunity  of  urging  upon  members  of 
Congress  its  importunate  claims. 

Meteorological  Work. — In  the  conduct  of  what  were  appropri- 
ately called  the  "active  operations"  of  the  Institution — under  the 
first  section  of  the  programme  (in  contradistinction  to  the  local  and 
statical  objects  of  the  second  section),  a  rare  energy  and  promptness 
was  exhibited.  The  very  first  Report  of  the  Secretary  announced 
not  only  the  acceptance  and  preparation  for  publication  of  an  elab- 
orate work  by  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis,  on  explorations  of  "  Ancient 
Monuments  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,"  but  the  commencement  of 
official  preparations  "for  instituting  various  lines  of  physical 
research.  Among  the  subjects  mentioned  by  way  of  example  in 
the  programme,  for  the  application  of  the  funds  of  the  Institution, 
is  terrestrial  magnetism.  -  -  -  Another  subject  of  research 
mentioned  in  the  programme,  and  which  has  been  urged  upon  the 
immediate  attention  of  the  Institution,  is  that  of  an  extensive  sys- 
tem of  meteorological  observations,  particularly  with  reference  to 
the  phenomena  of  American  storms.  Of  late  years  in  our  country 
more  additions  have  been  made  to  meteorology  than  to  any  other 
branch  of  physical  science.  Several  important  generalizations  have 
been  arrived  at,  and  definite  theories  proposed,  which  now  enable 
us  to  direct  our  attention  with  scientific  precision  to  such  points 
of  observation  as  cannot  fail  to  reward  us  with  new  and  inter- 
esting results.  It  is  proposed  to  organize  a  system  of  observations 
which  shall  extend  as  far  as  possible  over  the  North  American 
continent.  -  -  The  present  time  appears  to  be  peculiarly 

auspicious  for  commencing  an  enterprise  of  the  proposed  kind. 
The  citizens  of  the  United  States  are  now  scattered  over  every 
part  of  the  southern  and  western  portion  of  Northern  America, 
and  the  extended  lines  of  telegraph  will  furnish  a  ready  means  of 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  287 

warning  the  more  northern  and  eastern  observers  to  be  on  the 
watch  for  the  first  appearance  of  an  advancing  storm."  * 

An  appropriation  for  the  purpose  having  been  made  by  the 
Regents,  a  large  number  of  observers  scattered  over  the  United 
States  and  the  Territories  became  voluntary  correspondents  of  the 
Institution.  Advantage  was  taken  of  the  stations  already  estab- 
lished under  the  direction  of  the  War,  and  of  the  Navy  Depart- 
ments, as  well  as  of  those  provided  for  by  a  few  of  the  States. 
The  annual  reports  of  the  Secretary  chronicled  the  extension  and 
success  of  the  system  adopted ;  and  in  a  few  years  between  five  and 
six  hundred  regular  observers  were  engaged  in  its  meteorological 
service.  The  favorite  project  of  employing  the  telegraph  for 
obtaining  simultaneous  results  over  a  large  area  was  at  once  organ- 
ized; and  in  1849,  a  system  of  telegraphic  despatches  was  estab- 
lished, by  which  (a  few  years  later)  the  information  received  in 
Washington  at  the  Smithsonian  Institution  was  daily  plotted  upon 
a  large  map  of  the  United  States  by  means  of  adjustable  symbols. 
Espy's  generalization  that  the  principal  storms  and  other  atmos- 
pheric changes  have  an  eastward  movement, f  was  fully  established 
by  this  rapidly  gathered  experience  of  the  Institution ;  so  that  "  it 
was  often  enabled  to  predict  (sometimes  a  day  or  two  in  advance) 
the  approach  of  any  of  the  larger  disturbances  of  the  atmosphere."  { 

Eminently  efficient  as  the  enterprise  approved  itself,  increasing 
experience  served  to  demonstrate  the  expanding  requirements  of  the 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1847,  pp.  146, 147  (of  Sen.  ed.)— pp.  138,  139  (of  H.  Rep.  ed.) 
Professor  Loomis  (to  whom  among  others  "distinguished  for  their  attainments  in 
meteorology  "  letters  inviting  suggestions,  had  been  addressed,)  recommended  that 
there  should  be  at  least  one  observing  station  within  every  hundred  square  miles 
of  the  United  States;  and  he  sagaciously  pointed  out  that  "When  the  magnetic 
telegraph  [then  an  infant  three  years  old]  is  extended  from  New  York  to  New 
Orleans  and  St.  Louis,  it  may  be  made  subservient  to  the  protection  of  our  com- 
merce." This  interesting  letter  was  published  in  full  as  "Appendix  No.  2,"  to  the 
Report.  In  1848,  a  paper  was  read  before  the  British  Association  by  Mr.  John  Ball, 
"  On  rendering  the  Electric  Telegraph  subservient  to  Meteorological  Research :  in 
which  the  author  suggested  that  simultaneous  observations  so  collected,  might 
reveal  the  direction  and  probable  time  of  arrival  of  storms.  (Report  Brit.  Assoc. 
Swansea,  Aug.  1848.  Abstracts,  pp.  12, 13.) 

t  FRANKLIN  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  who  stated  the  general  law,  that  the 
storms  of  our  Southern  States  move  off  to  the  northeastward  over  the  Middle  and 
Eastern  States. 

J  Smithsonian  Report  for  1864,  p.  44.  An  interesting  and  instructive  resume  oi 
results  accomplished  within  fifteen  years  was  given  in  this  Report,  pp.  42-45 :  and 
continued  in  the  succeeding  Report  for  1865,  pp.  50-59. 


288  .MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

service;  and  it  was  seen  that  to  prosecute  the  subject  of  meteor- 
ology over  so  large  a  territory,  with  the  fullness  necessary,  would 
require  a  still  larger  force  of  observers,  and  a  greater  drain  upon 
the  resources  of  the  Institution,  than  could  well  be  spared  from 
other  objects;  and  as  the  great  value  of  the  system  was  fully 
recognized  by  the  intelligent,  the  propriety  of  maintaining  a 
meteorological  bureau  by  the  national  support  was  early  presented 
to  the  attention  of  Congress.  This  most  important  department  of 
observation  had  been  advanced  by  Henry  to  that  position,  in  which 
a  larger  annual  outlay  than  the  entire  income  of  the  Institution 
was  really  required  to  give  just  efficiency  to  the  system.  In  his 
Report  for  1865,  he  remarked:  "The  present  would  appear  to  be 
a  favorable  time  to  urge  upon  Congress  the  importance  of  making 
provision  for  the  reorganizing  all  the  meteorological  observations  of 
the  United  States  under  one  combined  plan,  in  which  the  records 
should  be  sent  to  a  central  depot  for  reduction,  discussion,  and  final 
publication.  An  appropriation  of  50,000  dollars  annually  for  this 
purpose  would  tend  not  only  to  advance  the  material  interests  of 
the  country,  but  also  to  increase  its  reputation.  -  -  -  It  is 
scarcely  necessary  at  this  day  to  dwell  on  the  advantages  which 
result  from  such  systems  of  combined  observations  as  those  which 
the  principal  governments  of  Europe  have  established,  and  are  now 
constantly  extending."  * 

Five  years  later,  in  support  of  the  proposition  that  the  subject 
from  its  magnitude  now  appealed  to  the  liberality  of  the  nation,  he 
briefly  recapitulated  the  work  accomplished  by  the  limited  means 
of  the  Institution.  "The  Smithsonian  meteorological  system  was 
commenced  in  1849,  and  has  continued  in  operation  until  the  present 
time.  -  -  -  It  has  done  good  service  to  the  cause  of  meteor- 
ology; 1st,  in  inaugurating  the  system  which  has  been  in  operation 
upward  of  twenty  years :  2nd,  in  the  introduction  of  improved  instru- 
ments after  discussion  and  experiments :  3rd,  in  preparing  and  pub- 
lishing at  its  expense  an  extensive  series  of  meteorological  tables : 
4th,  in  reducing  and  discussing  the  meteorological  material  which 
could  be  obtained  from  all  the  records  from  the  first  settlement  of 
the  country  till  within  a  few  years :  5th,  in  being  the  first  to  show 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1865,  p.  57. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  289 

the  practicability  of  telegraphic  weather  signals :  6th,  in  publishing 
records  and  discussions  made  at  its  own  expense,  of  the  Arctic  ex- 
peditions of  Kane,  Hayes,  and  McClintock :  7th,  in  discussing  and 
publishing  a  number  of  series  of  special  records  embracing  periods 
of  from  twenty  to  fifty  years  in  different  sections  of  the  United 
States, —  of  great  interest  in  determining  secular  changes  of  the 
climate :  8th,  in  the  publication  of  a  series  of  memoirs  on  various 
meteorological  phenomena,  embracing  observations  and  discussions 
of  storms,  tornadoes,  meteors,  auroras,  etc.:  9th,  in  a  diffusion  of  a 
knowledge  of  meteorology  through  its  extensive  unpublished  cor- 
respondence and  its  printed  circulars.  It  has  done  all  in  this  line 
which  its  limited  means  would  permit;  and  has  urged  upon  Con- 
gress the  establishment  with  adequate  appropriation  of  funds,  of  a 
meteorological  department  under  one  comprehensive  plan,  'in  which 
the  records  should  be  sent  to  a  central  depot  for  reduction,  discus- 
sion, and  final  publication.7"* 

In  1870,  a  meteorological  department  was  established  by  the 
Government  under  the  Signal  Office  of  the  War  Department,  with 
enlarged  facilities  for  systematic  observations :  and  agreeably  to  the 
settled  policy  of  the  Institution,  this  important  field  of  research 
was  in  1872,  abandoned  in  favor  of  the  new  organization. f  Of 
the  voluminous  results  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  system- 
atic records  over  a  wide  geographical  area  which  have  been  slowly 
digested  and  laboriously  discussed,  only  a  small  portion  has  yet  been 
published.  The  publication  of  the  series  when  practicable,  will 
yet  prove  an  inestimable  boon  to  meteorological  theory. 

Although  our  country  can  boast  of  many  able  meteorologists, 
who  have  greatly  promoted  our  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  atmos- 
pheric phenomena,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  to  no  single  worker  in  the 
field  is  our  nation  more  indebted  for  the  advancement  of  this  branch 
of  science  to  its  present  standing,  than  to  Joseph  Henry.  Quite  as 
much  by  his  incitement  and  encouragement  of  others  in  such  re- 
searches, as  by  his  own  exertions,  does  he  merit  this  award.  To 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1870,  p.  43. 

f  As  an  illustration  of  the  popular  favor  in  which  this  Signal  service  is  held,  it 
may  be  stated  that  the  annual  appropriation  by  Government  for  its  support  now 
exceeds  not  merely  the  entire  Smithsonian  income,  but  sixteen  times  that  amount; 
or  in  fact  its  whole  endowment. 
19 


290  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HEXRY. 

him  is  undoubtedly  due  the  most  important  step  in  the  modern  sys- 
tem of  observation, —  the  installation  of  the  telegraph  in  the  service 
of  meteorological  signals  and  predictions.*  While  giving  however 
his  active  supervision  to  the  extensive  system  he  had  himself  inau- 
gurated, publishing  many  important  reductions  of  particular  features, 
as  well  as  various  circulars  of  detailed  instructions  to  observers,  of 
the  desiderata  to  be  obtained  by  those  having  the  opportunities  of 
arctic,  oceanic,  and  southern  explorations,  and  directing  the  constant 
observations  recorded  at  the  Institution  as  an  independent  station, 
he  made  many  personal  investigations  of  allied  subjects;  —  as  of 
the  aurora,  of  atmospheric  electricity  and  thunder-storms,  of  the 
supposed  influence  of  the  moon  on  the  weather, — and  contributed 
a  valuable  series  of  memoirs  on  meteorology,  embracing  a  wide 
range  of  physical  exposition,  to  the  successive  Agricultural  Reports 
of  the  Commissioner  of  Patents,  during  the  years  1 855,  '56,  '57, 
758,  and  1859.  Instructive  articles  on  Magnetism  and  Meteorology 
were  prepared  in  1861  for  the  American  Cyclopaedia.  And  one 
of  his  latest  published  papers  comprises  a  minute  account  of  the 
effects  of  lightning  in  two  thunder-storms ;  one  occurring  in  the 
spring  of  last  year  (1877)  at  a  Light-house  in  Key  AYest,  Florida, 
and  the  other  occurring  in  the  summer  of  last  year  at  New  London, 
Connecticut,  f 

Archaeological  Work. —  One  of  the  earliest  subjects  taken  up  for 
investigation  by  the  Institution,  was  that  of  American  Archeology; 
the  attempt  by  extended  explorations  of  the  existing  pre-historic 
relics,  mounds,  and  monuments,  of  the  aborigines  of  our  country, 
to  ascertain  as  far  as  possible  their  primitive  industrial,  social  and 
intellectual  character,  and  any  evidences  of  their  antiquity,  or  of 

*"  However  frequently  the  idea  may  have  been  suggested  of  utilizing  our  knowl- 
edge by  the  employment  of  the  electric  telegraph,  it  is  to  Professor  Henry  and  his 
assistants  in  the  Smithsonian  Institution  that  the  credit  is  due  of  having  first 
actually  realized  this  suggestion.  -  -  -  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  without  mate- 
rial aid  from  the  Government,  but  through  the  enlightened  policy  of  the  telegraph 
companies,  the  Smithsonian  Institution  first  in  the  world  organized  a  comprehen- 
sive system  of  telegraphic  meteorology,  and  has  thus  given  — first  to  Europe  and 
Asia,  and  now  to  the  United  States,  that  most  beneficent  national  application  of 
modern  science — the  Storm  Warnings."  Article  on  "Weather  Telegraphy"  by 
Professor  Cleveland  Abbe.  (Am.  Jour.  ScL,  Aug.  1871,  vol.  ii.  pp.  83,  85.) 

f  Journal  of  the  American  Electrical  Society,  1878,  vol.  ii.  pp.  37-14.  The  communica- 
tion is  dated  Oct.  13, 1877;  though  not  published  till  during  the  author's  last  illness. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  291 

their  stages  of  development.  The  first  publication  of  "Smithsonian 
Contributions"  comprised  in  a  good  sized  quarto  volume  an  account 
of  extensive  examinations  of  the  mounds  and  earthworks  found 
over  the  broad  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  with  elaborate  illustrations 
of  the  relics  and  results  obtained :  and  this  volume  extensively  cir- 
culated by  gift  and  by  sale,  attracted  a  wide-spread  attention  and 
interest,  and  gave  a  remarkable  stimulus  to  the  further  prosecution 
of  such  researches.  "Whatever  relates  to  the  nature  of  man  is 
interesting  to  the  students  of  every  branch  of  knowledge;  and 
hence  ethnology  affords  a  common  ground  on  which  the  cultivators 
of  physical  science,  of  natural  history,  of  archaeology,  of  language, 
of  history,  and  of  literature,  can  all  harmoniously  labor.  Conse- 
quently no  part  of  the  operations  of  this  Institution  has  been  more 
generally  popular  than  that  which  relates  to  this  subject."* 

Special  explorations  inaugurated  by  the  Institution,  have  sup- 
plied it  with  important  contributions  to  archaeological  information, 
and  with  the  rich  spoils  of  collected  relics;  which  together  witli 
much  material  gathered  from  Arctic  and  from  Southern  regions, 
from  Europe,  from  Asia,  and  from  Africa,  fill  now  a  large  museum 
hall  200  feet  long  and  50  feet  wide,  exclusively  devoted  to  compara- 
tive Anthropology  and  Ethnology.  In  1868,  the  Secretary  reported 
that  "  during  the  past  year  greater  effort  had  been  made  than  ever 
before  to  collect  specimens  to  illustrate  the  ethnology  and  archeology 
of  the  North  American  continent:"  and  he  d^velt  upon  the  impor- 
tance of  the  subject  as  a  study  connecting  all  portions  of  the  habitable 
earth,  pointing  out  that  "it  embraces  not  only  the  natural  history 
and  peculiarities  of  the  different  races  of  men  as  they  now  exist 
upon  the  globe,  but  also  their  affiliations,  their  changes  in  mental 
and  moral  development,  and  also  the  question  of  the  geological  epoch 
of  the  appearance  of  man  upon  the  earth.  -  -  -  The  ethnolog- 
ical specimens  we  have  mentioned  are  not  considered  as  mere 
curiosities  collected  to  excite  the  wonder  of  the  illiterate,  but  as 
contributions  to  the  materials  from  which  it  will  be  practicable  to 
reconstruct  by  analogy  and  strict  deduction,  the  history  of  the  past 
in  its  relation  to  the  present."  f 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1860,  p.  38. 

t  Smithsonian  Report  for  1868,  pp.  26  and  33. 


292  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

Two  years  later  he  reported:  "The  collection  of  objects  to 
illustrate  anthropology  now  in  possession  of  the  Institution  is 
almost  unsurpassed,  especially  in  those  which  relate  to  the  present 
Indians  and  the  more  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  American  conti- 
nent." Deprecating  the  frequent  dissipation  of  small  private 
collections  of  such  objects  at  the  death  of  their  OAvners,  he  forcibly 
urges  that  "the  only  wray  in  which  they  can  become  of  real  impor- 
tance, is  by  making  them  part  of  a  general  collection,  carefully 
preserved  in  some  public  institution,  where  in  the  course  of  the 
increasing  light  of  science,  they  may  be  made  to  reveal  truths 
beyond  present  anticipation."  * 

In  his  last  Report  —  for  1877,  (just  published,  and  which  he 
did  not  live  to  see  in  print,)  he  says :  "Anthropology,  or  what  may 
be  considered  the  natural  history  of  man,  is  at  present  the  most 
popular  branch  of  science.  It  absorbs  a  large  share  of  public 
attention,  and  many  original  investigators  are  assiduously  devoted 
to  it.  Its  object  is  to  reconstruct  as  it  were  the  past  history  of  man, 
to  determine  his  specific  peculiarities  and  general  tendencies.  It 
has  already  established  the  fact  that  a  remarkable  similarity  exists 
in  the  archaeological  instruments  found  in  all  parts  of  the  world, 
with  those  in  use  among  tribes  still  in  a  savage  or  barbarous  condi- 
tion. The  conclusion  is  supported  by  evidence  which  can  scarcely 
be  doubted,  that  by  thoroughly  studying  the  manners  and  customs 
of  savages  and  the  instruments  employed  by  them,  we  obtain  a 
knowledge  of  the  earliest  history  of  nations  which  have  attained 
the  highest  civilization.  It  is-  remarkable  in  how  many  cases, 
customs  existing  among  highly  civilized  peoples  are  found  to  be  sur- 
vivals of  ancient  habits."  He  then  argues  from  the  significance 
thus  developed  of  many  trivial  practices  and  unmeaning  ceremonies 
handed  down  from  immemorial  time,  the  importance  to  a  full  com- 
prehension of  the  customs  of  modern  society,  of  a  scientific  study 
of  the  myths  and  usages  of  ancient  peoples.  "American  anthro- 
pology" he  remarks,  "early  occupied  the  attention  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution;"  and  alluding  to  its  first  published  work,  he 
says,  "from  the  time  of  the  publication  of  this  volume  until  the 
present,  contributions  of  value  have  been  made  annually  by  the 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1870,  pp.  35,  36. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  293 

Institution  to  this  branch  of  knowledge.  -  -  -  The  collection  of 
the  archaeology  and  ethnology  of  America,  in  the  National  Museum, 
is  the  most  extensive  in  the  world:  and  in  order  to  connect  it 
permanently  with  the  name  of  Smithson,  it  has  been  thought  ad- 
visable to  prepare  and  publish  at  the  expense  of  the  Smithsonian 
fund,  an  exhaustive  work  on  American  anthropology,  in  which  the 
various  classes  of  specimens  shall  be  figured  and  described."  * 
This  great  work  still  remains  to  be  perfected. 

Publications. — To  attempt  the  recapitulation  of  the  various 
branches  of  original  research  initiated  or  directly  fostered  by  the 
Institution,  would  be  to  write  its  history.  The  range  and  variety 
of  its  active  operations,  and  the  value  of  their  fruits,  are  in  view 
of  the  limited  income,  and  the  collateral  drains  of  less  important 
objects  exacted  from  it,  something  quite  surprising.  Scarcely  a 
department  of  investigation  has  not  received  either  directly  or 
indirectly  liberal  and  efficient  assistance:  and  a  host  of  physicists 
in  the  successful  prosecution  of  their  diverse  labors,  have  attested 
their  gratitude  to  the  Institution,  and  no  less  to  the  ever  sympa- 
thetic encouragement  of  its  Director. 

Of  the  various  works  submitted  to  the  Institution, — differing 
widely  as  they  necessarily  must  in  the  comprehensiveness  as  well 
as  in  the  originality  of  treatment  of  their  diversified  topics, —  only 
those  were  accepted  for  publication,  which  had  received  the  approval 
of  a  commission  of  distinguished  experts  in  each  particular  field  of 
inquiry.  But  even  after  such  formal  approval  and  acceptance, 
Henry  ever  maintained  a  sense  of  responsibility  which  entailed 
upon  him  a  vast  amount  of  unrecognized  and  little  appreciated 
labor,  in  his  desire  to  make  each  publication  a  credit  to  the  Institu- 
tion as  well  as  to  its  author.  In  the  editing  of  this  multitudinous 
material,  he  gave  a  critical  attention  to  each  memoir ;  and  there  are 
probably  few  of  the  series  which  do  not  bear  the  marks  of  his 
watchful  care,  in  the  elimination  of  obscurities,  of  redundancies,  or 
of  personalities,  and  in  the  pruning  of  questionable  metaphors,  of 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1877,  pp.  22,  23.  Circulars  broadly  distributed  by  the 
Institution,  have  served  to  give  desired  direction  to  popular  attention  and  activity 
in  this  field  of  research ;  and  the  extent  of  co-operation  is  such  as  probably  only 
the  "Smithsonian"  could  have  secured,  unless  by  a  vastly  greater  outlay. 


294  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

imperfect  or  hasty  generalizations,  or  of  incidental  inaccuracies  of 
statement  or  inference. 

Over  one  hundred  important  original  Memoirs,  generally  too 
elaborate  to  be  published  at  length  by  any  existing  scientific  society, 
issued  in  editions  many  times  larger  than  the  most  liberal  of  any 
such  society's  issue,  most  of  them  now  universally  recognized  as 
classical  and  original  authorities  on  their  respective  topics,  forming 
twenty-one  large  quarto  volumes  of  "SMITHSONIAN  CONTRIBU- 
TIONS TO  KNOWLEDGE,"  distributed  over  every  portion  of  the 
civilized  or  colonized  world,  constitute  a  monument  to  the  memory 
of  the  founder,  James  Smithson,  such  as  never  before  was  builded 
on  the  foundation  of  one  hundred  thousand  pounds:  and  before 
which  the  popular  Lyceums  of  our  leading  cities,  with  endowments 
averaging  double  this  amount,  are  dwarfed  into  insignificance. 

Such  as  these  Lyceums  with  their  local  culture,  admirable  and 
invaluable  in  their  way,  but  exerting  no  influence  upon  the  progress 
of  science,  or  outside  of  their  own  communities,  and  scarcely  known 
beyond  their  cities'  walls, — such  was  the  type  of  institute  which 
early  legislators  could  alone  imagine.  Such  as  the  "  Smithsonian 
Institution"  stands  to-day, — such  is  the  monument  mainly  con- 
structed by  the  foresight,  the  wisdom,  and  the  resolution  of  Henry.* 
All  honor  to  the  Regents,  who  with  an  enlightenment  so  far  in 
advance  of  the  ruling  intelligence  of  former  days,  and  against  the 
pressures  of  overwhelming  preponderance  of  even  educated  popular 
sentiment,  courageously  adopted  the  programme  of  the  Secretary 
and  Director  they  had  appointed ;  and  who  throughout  his  career, 
so  wisely,  nobly,  and  steadfastly  upheld  his  policy  and  his  purpose. 

Fifteen  octavo  volumes  of  "  Smithsonian  Miscellaneous  Collec- 
tions "  of  a  more  technical  character  than  the  "  Contributions," 

*"It  is  not  by  its  castellated  building,  nor  the  exhibition  of  the  museum  of 
the  Government,  that  the  Institution  has  achieved  its  present  reputation;  nor  by 
the  collection  and  display  of  material  objects  of  any  kind,  that  it  has  vindicated 
the  intelligence  and  good  faith  of  the  Government  in  the  administration  of  the 
trust.  It  is  by  its  explorations,  its  researches,  its  publications,  its  distribution  of 
specimens,  and  its  exchanges,  constituting  it  an  active  living  organization,  that  it 
has  rendered  itself  favorably  known  in  every  part  of  the  civilized  world;  has  made 
contributions  to  almost  every  branch  of  science;  and  brought,  more  than  ever 
before,  into  intimate  and  friendly  relations,  the  Old  and  the  New  Worlds."  (Memo- 
rial to  Congress,  by  Chancellor  S.  P.  CHASE,  and  Secretary  JOSEPH  HENRY.  Smith- 
sonian Report  for  1867,  p.  114.) 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  295 

(including  systematic  and  statistical  compilations,  scientific  sum- 
maries, and  valuable  accessions  of  tabular  "constants,")  form  in 
themselves  an  additional  series;  and  represent  a  work  "bf  which 
any  learned  Society  or  Institution  might  well  be  proud.  And 
thirty  octavo  volumes  of  annual  Reports,  rich  with  the  scattered 
thoughts  and  hopes  and  wishes  of  the  Director,  form  the  official 
journal  of  his  administration. 

The  Bibliography  of  Science. — Among  the  needful  preparations 
for  conducting  original  inquiry,  none  is  more  important  than  ready 
access  and  direction  to  the  existing  state  of  research  in  the  particu- 
lar field,  or  its  allied  districts.  This  information  is  scattered  in  the 
thousands  of  volumes  which  form  the  transactions  of  learned 
Societies;  and  its  acquisition  involves  therefore  in  most  cases  a 
very  laborious  preliminary  bibliographical  research.  To  make  this 
vast  store  of  observation  available  to  scientific  students,  by  the 
directory  of  well  arranged  digests,  would  appear  to  fall  peculiarly 
within  the  province  of  an  Institution  specially  established  for  pro- 
moting the  increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge  among  men :  and 
was  early  an  object  of  particular  interest  to  Henry.  In  his  Report 
for  1851,  he  remarked:  "One  of  the  most  important  means  of 
facilitating  the  use  of  libraries  (particularly  with  reference  to 
science,)  is  well-digested  indexes  of  subjects,  not  merely  referring 
to  volumes  or  books,  but  to  memoirs,  papers,  and  parts  of  scientific 
transactions  and  systematic  works.  As  an  example  of  this,  I  would 
refer  to  the  admirably  arranged  and  valuable  catalogue  of  books 
relating  to  Natural  Philosophy  and  the  Mechanic  Arts,  by  Dr. 
Young.  This  work  comes  down  to  1807  ;  and  I  know  of  no  richer 
gift  which  could  be  bestowed  upon  the  science  of  our  own  day, 
than  the  continuation  of  this  catalogue  to  the  present  time.  Every 
one  who  is  desirous  of  enlarging  the  bounds  of  human  knowledge, 
should  in  justice  to  himself  as  well  as  to  the  public,  be  acquainted 
with  what  has  previously  been  done  in  the  same  line;  and  this  he 
will  only  be  enabled  to  accomplish  by  the  use  of  indexes  of  the 
kind  above  mentioned."* 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1851,  p.  225  (of  Sen.  ed.)— p.  217  (of  H.  Rep.  ed.)  The  valu- 
able Repertorium  commentationum  a  societatibus  litterariis  editarum,  edited  by  Prof. 
JEBOM  D.  REUSS,  and  published  in  16  quarto  volumes  at  Gottingen,  (1801-1821,)  to  a 
large  extent  supplied  this  desideratum,  down  to  the  end  of  the  last  century. 


296  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

At  the  time,  and  for  years  afterward,  one-half  of  the  Smith- 
sonian income  was  diverted  by  the  requirements  of  Congress  to  the 
local  objects  of  the  Lyceum:  and  the  hopelessness  of  attempting  a 
work  —  additional  to  that  already  mapped  out,  which  would  require 
the  united  labors  of  a  large  corps  of  well-trained  and  educated 
assistants  for  many  years,  and  the  subsequent  devotion  of  the  whole 
available  income  for  many  years  following,  to  complete  its  publica- 
tion, was  fully  realized.  The  project  however  was  not  abandoned : 
and  in  1854,  Henry  conceived  the  plan  of  taking  up  the  more 
limited  department  of  American  Scientific  Bibliography;  and  by 
the  persevering  application  of  a  fixed  portion  of  the  income  annually 
for  a  succession  of  years,  of  finally  producing  a  thorough  subject- 
matter  index,  as  well  as  an  index  of  authors,  for  the  entire  range  of 
American  contributions  to  science  from  their  earliest  date.  Inspired 
with  this  ambition,  he  sought  to  enlist  the  co-operation  of  the 
British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  in  procuring 
with  its  large  resources,  a  similar  classified  index  for  British  and 
European  scientific  literature. 

The  favorable  reception  of  this  project,  was  officially  announced 
to  Henry  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Association,  in  the  transmission 
of  the  following  extract  from  the  proceedings  of  that  body  for  1855. 
"A  communication  from  Professor  Henry  of  "Washington  having 
been  read,  containing  a  proposal  for  the  publication  of  a  catalogue 
of  philosophical  memoirs  scattered  throughout  the  Transactions  of 
Societies  in  Europe  and  America,  with  the  oifer  of  co-operation  on 
the  part  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  to  the  extent  of  preparing 
and  publishing  in  accordance  with  the  general  plan  which  might  be 
adopted  by  the  British  Association,  a  catalogue  of  all  the  American 
memoirs  on  physical  science,  —  the  Committee  approve  of  the  sug- 
gestion, and  recommend  that  Mr.  Cayley,  Mr.  Grant,  and  Professor 
Stokes  be  appointed  a  committee  to  consider  the  best  system  of 
arrangement,  and  to  report  thereon  to  the  council."  *  The  report  of 
this  committee  dated  13th  June,  1856,  was  presented  to  the  succeed- 
ing Meeting  of  the  British  Association ;  in  which  they  take  occasion 
to  say :  "  The  Committee  are  desirous  of  expressing  their  sense  of 
the  great  importance  and  increasing  need  of  such  a  catalogue.  -  - 

*  Report  Brit.  Assoc.  Glasgow,  Sept.  1855,  p.  Ixvi. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  297 

The  catalogue  should  not  be  restricted  to  memoirs  in  Transactions 
of  Societies,  but  should  comprise  also  memoirs  in  the  Proceedings 
of  Societies,  in  mathematical  and  scientific  journals :"  etc.  -  -  - 
"The  catalogue  should  begin  from  the  year  1800.  There  should 
be  a  catalogue  according  to  the  names  of  authors,  and  also  a  cata- 
logue according  to  subjects."  *  The  committee  comprising  Fellows 
of  the  Royal  Society  of  London  finally  succeeded  in  interesting  that 
grave  body  in  the  undertaking:  and  the  result  was  that  greatly  to 
Henry's  satisfaction,  the  entire  work  was  ultimately  assumed  by  the 
Royal  Society  itself. 

In  the  course  of  ten  years  that  liberal  Society  aided  by  a  large 
grant  from  the  British  Government  gave  to  the  world  its  half 
instalment  of  the  great  work,  in  its  admirable  "  Catalogue  of  Scien- 
tific Papers  "  alphabetically  classified  by  authors,  in  seven  or  eight 
large  quarto  volumes.  In  the  Preface  to  this  splendid  monument 
of  industry  and  liberality,  stands  the  following  history  of  its  incep- 
tion. "The  present  undertaking  may  be  said  to  have  originated  in 
a  communication  from  Dr.  Joseph  Henry,  Secretary  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  to  the  Meeting  of  the  British  Association  at 
Glasgow  in  1855,  suggesting  the  formation  of  a  catalogue  of  Phil- 
osophical memoirs.  This  suggestion  was  favorably  reported  on  by 
a  Committee  of  the  Association  in  the  following  year.  - 
In  March,  1857,  General  Sabine,  the  Treasurer  and  Vice  President 
of  the  Royal  Society,  brought  the  matter  before  the  President  and 
Council  of  that  body,  and  requested  on  the  part  of  the  British  Asso- 
ciation, the  co-operation  of  the  Royal  Society  in  the  project:  where- 
upon a  committee  was  appointed  to  take  into  further  consideration 
the  formation  of  such  a  catalogue.  -  -  -  No  further  step  was 
taken  by  the  British  Association  or  by  the  Royal  Society  in  co-op- 
eration with  that  body:  but  the  President  and  Council  of  the  Royal 
Society  acting  on  the  recommendations  contained  'in  a  Report  of  the 
Library  Committee  dated  7th  January,  1858,  resolved  that  the  prepa- 
ration of  a  Catalogue  of  scientific  memoirs  should  be  undertaken  by 
the  Royal  Society  independently,  and  at  the  Society's  own  charge."! 

*  Report  Brit.  Assoc.  Cheltenham,  Aug.  1856,  pp.  463,  464. 

t  Preface  to  Catalogue  of  Scientific  Papers,  (1800-1863)  vol.  i.  1867,  pp.  ill.  iv.  The 
second  and  most  important  division  of  this  great  and  invaluable  work,— the 
classified  Index  to  Subjects,  — still  remains  to  be  accomplished. 


298  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

System  of  Exchanges. — For  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  among' 
men,  one  of  the  methods  adopted  by  Henry  from  the  very  com- 
mencement of  his  administration  was  the  organization  of  a  system 
by  which  the  scientific  memoirs  of  Societies  or  of  individuals  from 
any  portion  of  the  United  States,  might  be  transmitted  to  foreign 
countries  without  expense  to  the  senders :  and  by  which  in  like 
manner  the  similar  publications  of  scientific  work  abroad  might  be 
received  at  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  for  distribution  in  this 
country.  *  This  privilege  however  is  properly  restricted  to  bona 
fide  donations  and  exchanges  of  scientific  memoirs;  all  purchased 
publications  being  carefully  excluded  and  left  to  find  their  legiti- 
mate channels  of  trade.  By  an  international  courtesy  —  creditable 
to  the  wisdom  and  intelligence  of  the  civilized  Powers,  —  such 
packages  to  and  from  the  Institution  are  permitted  to  pass  through 
all  custom-houses,  free  of  duty;  an  invoice  of  authentication  being 
forwarded  in  advance.  When  it  is  considered  that  this  large  work 
of  collection  and  distribution  (including  the  constant  supply  of  the 
Institution's  own  publications,  and  the  extensive  returns  •  therefor 
of  journals,  proceedings,  and  transactions,  for  its  own  library) 
requires  the  systematic  records  and  accounts  in  suitable  ledgers, 
with  the  accurate  parcelling  and  labelling  of  packages,  large  and 
small,  to  every  corner  of  the  globe,  it  may  well  be  conceived  that 
no  small  amount  of  labor  and  expense  is  involved  in  these  forward- 
ing operations,  f  A.  recognition  of  the  benefits  conferred  by  this 

* "  The  promotion  cf  knowledge  is  much  retarded  by  the  difficulties  expe- 
rienced in  the  way  of  a  free  intercourse  between  scientific  and  literary  societies 
in  different  parts  of  the  world.  In  carrying  on  the  exchange  of  the  Smithsonian 
volumes,  it  was  necessary  to  appoint  a  number  of  agents.  These  agencies  being 
established  other  exchanges  could  be  carried  on  through  them  and  our  means  of 
conveyance,  at  the  slight  additional  expense  owing  to  the  small  increase  of 
weight.  -  -  -  The  result  cannot  fail  to  prove  highly  beneficial,  by  promoting  a 
more  ready  communion  between  the  literature  and  science  of  this  country  and 
the  world  abroad."  (Smithsonian  Report  for  1851,  p.  218,  Senate  ed.) 

f  It  may  be  stated  that  the  number  of  foreign  institutions  and  correspondents 
receiving  the  Smithsonian  publications  exceeds  two  thousand;  whose  localities 
embrace  not  only  the  principal  cities  of  Europe  (from  Iceland  to  Turkey),  of 
British  America,  Mexico,  the  West  Indies,  Central  and  South  America,  and  of 
Australia,  but  also  those  of  New  Zealand,  Honolulu  in  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
twelve  cities  in  India,  Shanghai  in  China,  Tokio  and  Yokohama  in  Japan,  JBata- 
via  in  Java,  Manila  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  Alexandria  and  Cairo  in  Egypt, 
Algiers  in  northern  Africa,  Monrovia  in  Liberia,  and  Cape  Town  in  southern 
Africa.  The  correspondents  and  recipients  in  the  United  States,  are  probably 
nearly  as  numerous. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  299 

generous  enterprise,  is  practically  indicated  by  the  rapid  enlarge- 
ment of  the  operations.  The  weight  of  matter  sent  abroad  by  the 
Institution  at  the  end  of  the  first  decade  was  14,000  pounds  for  the 
year  1857:  the  weight  sent  at  the  end  of  the  second  decade  was 
22,000  pounds  for  the  year  1867:  and  the  weight  sent  at  the  end 
of  the  third  decade  was  99,000  pounds  for  the  last  year  1877. 
This  admirable  system  has  been  greatly  encouraged  and  facilitated 
by  the  most  praiseworthy  liberality  of  the  great  lines  of  ocean 
steamers,  and  of  the  leading  railway  companies,  in  carrying  the 
Smithsonian  freight  in  many  cases  free  of  charge,  or  in  other  cases  at 
greatly  reduced  rates :  an  appreciative  tribute  alike  to  the  beneficent 
services  and  reputation  of  the  Institution,  and  to  the  personal 
character  and  influence  of  its  Director.  * 

"  This  part  of  the  system  of  Smithsonian  operations  has  every- 
where received  the  commendation  of  those  who  have  given  it  their 
attention  or  have  participated  in  its  benefits.  The  Institution  is 
now  the  principal  agent  of  scientific  and  literary  communication 
between  the  old  world  and  the  new.  -  -  -  The  importance  of 
such  a  system  with  reference  to  the  scientific  character  of  our  coun- 
try, could  scarcely  be  appreciated  by  those  who  are  not  familiar 
with  the  results  which  flow  from  an  easy  and  certain  intercommu- 
nication of  this  kind.  Many  of  the  most  important  contributions 
to  science  made  in  America  have  been  unheard  of  in  Europe,  or 
have  been  so  little  known,  or  received  so  little  attention,  that  they 
have  been  republished  as  new  discoveries  or  claimed  as  the  product 
of  European  research. "f  It  would  indeed  be  difficult  to  estimate 
rightly  the  benefit  to  science  in  the  encouragement  of  its  cultivators, 
afforded  by  this  fostering  service.  Few  Societies  are  able  to  incur 
much  expense  in  the  distribution  of  their  publications ;  and  hence 

*"The  cost  of  this  system  would  far  exceed  the  means  of  the  Institution,  were 
it  not  for  important  aid  received  from  various  parties  interested  in  facilitating 
international  intercourse  and  the  promotion  of  friendly  relations  between  distant 
parts  of  the  civilized  world.  The  liberal  aid  extended  by  the  steamship  and 
other  lines,  mentioned  in  previous  reports,  in  carrying  the  boxes  of  the  Smith- 
son  exchanges  free  of  charge,  has  been  continued,  and  several  other  lines  have 
been  added  to  the  number  in  the  course  of  the  year."  (Smithsonian  Report  for 
1867,  p.  39.)  Notwithstanding  this  unprecedented  generosity,  the  exchange  system 
has  reached  such  proportions  as  to  require  for  its  maintenance  one-fourth  of  the 
entire  income  from  the  Smithsonian  fund. 

t  Smithsonian  Report  for  1853,  p.  25  (of  Senate  ed.) 


300  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

their  circulation  is  necessarily  very  limited.  The  fructifying  inter- 
change of  labors  and  results,  dependent  on  their  own  resources, 
would  be  obstructed  by  the  recurring  expenses  and  delays  of  cus- 
toms interventions,  and  by  unconscionable  exactions :  and  indeed 
without  the  Smithsonian  mechanism,  nine-tenths  of  the  present 
scientific  exchanges  would  be  at  once  suppressed.  Let  it  be  hoped 
that  so  beneficent  a  system  will  not  break  down  from  the  weight  of 
its  own  inevitable  growth. 

Astronomical  Telegraphy. — Analogous  in  principle  to  the  system 
of  exchange,  is  that  adopted  for  the  instantaneous  trans- Atlantic 
communication  of  discoveries  of  a  special  order.  In  the  year  1873, 
in  the  interests  of  astronomy  (to  which  Henry  was  ever  warmly 
devoted)  he  concluded  "  a  very  important  arrangement  between  the 
Smithsonian  Institution  and  the  Atlantic  Cable  Companies,  by  which 
is  guaranteed  the  free  transmission  by  telegraph  between  Europe 
and  America  of  accounts  of  astronomical  discoveries  which  for  the 
purpose  of  co-operative  observation  require  immediate  announce- 
ment."* This  admirable  service  to  science,  so  creditable  to  the 
intelligence  and  the  liberality  of  the  Atlantic  Telegraph  Companies, 
embraces  direct  reciprocal  communication  between  the  Smithsonian 
Institution  and  the  foreign  Observatories  of  Greenwich,  Paris, 
Berlin,  Vienna,  and  Pulkova.  During  the  first  year  of  its  opera- 
tion, four  new  planetoids  were  telegraphed  from  America,  and  seven 
telescopic  comets  from  Europe  to  this  country. 

"Although  the  discovery  of  planets  and  comets  will  probably 
be  the  principal  subject  of  the  cable  telegrams,  yet  it  is  not  intended 
to  restrict  the  transmission  of  intelligence  solely  to  that  class  of 
observation.  Any  remarkable  solar  phenomenon  presenting  itself 
suddenly  in  Europe,  observations  of  which  may  be  practicable  in 
America  several  hours  after  the  sun  has  set  to  the  European  ob- 
server,—  the  sudden  outburst  of  some  variable  star  similar  to  that 
which  appeared  in  Corona  borealis  in  1866, —  unexpected  showers 
of  shooting  stars,  etc.  would  be  proper  subjects  for  transmission  by 
cable. 

"The  announcement  of  this  arrangement  has  called  forth  the 
approbation  of  the  astronomers  of  the  world :  and  in  regard  to  it 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1873,  p.  32. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  301 

we  may  quote  the  following  passage  from  the  fifty-fourth  annual 
report  of  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society  of  England:  'The  great 
value  of  this  concession  on  the  part  of  the  Atlantic  telegraph  and 
other  Companies,  cannot  be  too  highly  prized,  and  our  science  must 
certainly  be  the  gainer  by  this  disinterested  act  of  liberality. 
Already  planets  discovered  in  America  have  been  observed  in 
Europe  on  the  evening  following  the  receipt  of  the  telegram,  or 
within  two  or  three  days  of  their  discovery/  "* 

Official  Correspondence. — A  vast  amount  of  individual  work 
having  in  view  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  has  been  performed  by 
the  correspondence  of  the  Institution ;  which  may  be  best  described 
in  the  language  of  an  extract  from  one  of  the  early  reports  :  "  There 
is  one  part  of  the  Smithsonian  operations  that  attracts  no  public 
attention,  though  it  is  producing  important  results  in  the  way  of 
diffusing  knowledge,  and  is  attended  perhaps  with  more  labor  than 
any  other  part.  I  allude  to  the  scientific  correspondence  of  the 
Institution.  Scarcely  a  day  passes  in  which  communications  are 
not  received  from  persons  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  con- 
taining accounts  of  discoveries,  which  are  referred  to  the  Institution, 
or  asking  questions  relative  to  some  branch  of  knowledge.  The 
rule  was  early  adopted  to  give  respectful  attention  to  every  letter 
received,  and  this  has  been  faithfully  adhered  to  from  the  beginning 
up  to  the  present  time.  -  -  -  Requests  are  frequently  made 
for  lists  of  apparatus,  for  information  as  to  the  best  books  for  the 
study  of  special  subjects,  for  suggestions  on  the  organization  of 
local  societies,  etc.  Applications  are  also  made  for  information  by 
persons  abroad,  relative  to  particular  subjects  respecting  this  coun- 
try. When  an  immediate  reply  cannot  be  given  to  a  question,  the 
subject  is  referred  by  letter  to  some  one  of  the  Smithsonian  co-labor- 
ers to  whose  line  of  duty  it  pertains,  and  the  answer  is  transmitted 
to  the  inquirer,  either  under  the  name  of  the  person  who  gives  the 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1873,  p.  33.    In  1876,  a  stellar  outburst  in  the  "Swan" 
observed  by  Dr.  Schmidt  of  Athens,  on  the  24th  of  November,  was  announced.' 
Less  brilliant  than  the  similar  outburst  which  occurred  in  the  northern  "Crown"  . 
in  May,  1866,  it  continued  to  decline  through  the  month  of  December,  and  at  the 
close  of  the  year,  had  dwindled  from  the  third  to  the  eighth  magnitude.    (This 
may  possibly  be  the  same  "temporary  star"— seen  in  Cygnus  in  1600,  and  again 
in  1670:  and  having  therefore  a  period  of  variability  of  about  69  years.) 


302  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

information  or  under  that  of  the  Institution,  according  to  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case.  -  -  -  Many  of  those  communications 
are  of  such  a  character,  that  at  first  sight  it  might  seem  best  to  treat 
them  with  silent  neglect;  but  the  rule  has  been  adopted  to  state 
candidly  and  respectfully  the  objections  to  such  propositions,  and 
to  endeavor  to  convince  their  authors  that  their  ground  is  untenable. 
Though  this  course  is  in  many  cases  attended  with  no  beneficial 
results,  still  it  is  the  only  one  which  can  be  adopted  with  any  hope 
of  even  partial  good."* 

The  information  given  to  scientific  inquirers  has  been  of  an  ex- 
ceedingly varied  and  highly  valuable  character,  not  un frequently 
involving  a  large  amount  of  research  from  special  experts;  who 
have  been  accustomed  cheerfully  to  bestow  a  degree  of  attention  on 
difficult  questions  thus  presented,  which  would  have  been  accorded 
perhaps  less  ungrudgingly  to  others  than  to  the  universally  honored 
Smithsonian  Director.  As  to  the  pretensions  and  importunities  of 
the  unscientific, — such  is  the  judgment  pronounced  after  a  quarter 
of  a  century  of  laborious  experience  with  them: 

"The  most  troublesome  correspondents  are  persons  of  extensive 
reading,  and  in  some  cases  of  considerable  literary  acquirements, 
who  in  earlier  life  were  not  imbued  with  scientific  methods,  but  who 
not  without  a  certain  degree  of  mental  power,  imagine  that  they 
have  made  great  discoveries  in  the  way  of  high  generalizations. 
Their  claims  not  being  allowed,  they  rank  themselves  among  the 
martyrs  of  science,  against  whom  the  scientific  schools  and  the  envy 
of  the  world  have  arrayed  themselves.  Indeed  to  such  intensity 
does  this  feeling  arise  in  certain  persons,  that  on  their  special  sub- 
jects they  are  really  monomaniacs,  although  on  others  they  may  be 
not  only  entirely  sane,  but  even  evince  abilities  of  a  high  order. 
-  -  -  Two  persons  of  this  class  have  recently  made  a  special 
journey  to  Washington,  from  distant  parts  of  the  country,  to  demand 
justice  from  the  Institution  in  the  way  of  recognition  of  their  claims 
to  discoveries  in  science  of  great  importance  to  humanity ;  and  each 
of  them  has  made  an  appeal  to  his  representative  in  Congress  to 
aid  him  in  compelling  the  Institution  to  acknowledge  the  merits  of 
his  speculations.  Providence  vindicates  in  such  cases  the  equality 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1853,  pp.  22,  23,  (of  Senate  ed.) 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  303 

of  its  justice  in  giving  to  such  persons  an  undue  share  of  self-es- 
teem and  an  exaltation  of  confidence  in  themselves,  which  in  a  great 
degree  compensate  for  what  they  conceive  to  be  the  want  of  a  just 
appreciation  by  the  public.  Unless  however  they  are  men  of  great 
benevolence  of  disposition,  who  can  look  with  pity  on  what  they 
deem  the  ignorance  and  prejudice  of  leaders  of  science,  they  are  apt 
to  indulge  in  a  bitterness  of  denunciation  which  might  be  injurious 
to  the  reputation  of  the  Institution,  were  their  effects  not  neutral- 
ized by  the  extravagance  of  the  assertions  themselves."  * 

To  the  projectors  and  propellers  of  Paine  electric  engines,  and 
Keely  motors,  eager  for  a  marketable  certificate  from  such  an 
authority,  Henry  would  calmly  reply :  "  We  may  say  that  science  has 
established  the  great  fact — without  the  possibility  of  doubt,  that 
what  is  called  power,  or  that  which  produces  changes  in  matter,  can- 
not be  created  by  man,  but  exists  in  nature  in  a  state  of  activity  or  in 
a  condition  of  neutralization ;  and  furthermore  that  all  the  original 
forces  connected  with  our  globe,  as  a  general  rule  have  assumed  a 
state  of  permanent  equilibrium,  and  that  the  crust  of  the  earth  as 
a  whole  (with  the  exception  of  the  comparatively  exceedingly  small 
proportion,  consisting  of  organic  matter  such  as  coal,  wood,  etc.)  is 
as  it  were  a  burnt  slag,  incapable  of  yielding  power;  and  that  all 
the  motions  and  changes  on  its  surface  are  due  to  actions  from  celes- 
tial space,  principally  from  the  sun.  -  -  All  attempts  to 
substitute  electricity  or  magnetism  for  coal  power  must  be  unsuc- 
cessful, since  these  powers  tend  to  an  equilibrium  from  which  they 
can  only  be  disturbed  by  the  application  of  another  power,  which 
is  the  equivalent  of  that  which  they  can  subsequently  exhibit. 
They  are  however,  with  chemical  attraction,  etc.  of  great  impor- 
tance as  intermediate  agents  in  the  application  of  the  power  of  heat 
as  derived  from  combustion.  Science  does  not  indicate  in  the  slight- 
est degree,  the  possibility  of  the  discovery  of  a  new  primary  power 
comparable  with  that  of  combustion  as  exhibited  in  the  burning  of 
coal.  Whatever  unknown  powers  may  exist  in  nature  capable  of 
doing  work,  must  be  in  a  state  of  neutralization,  otherwise  they 
would  manifest  themselves  spontaneously;  and  from  this  state  of 
neutralization  or  equilibrium,  they  can  be  released  only  by  the  action 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1875,  pp.  37,  38. 


304  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

of  an  extraneous  power  of  equivalent  energy ;  and  we  therefore  do 
not  hesitate  to  say  that  all  declarations  of  the  discovery  of  a  new 
power  which  is  to  supersede  the  use  of  coal  as  a  motive-power,  have 
their  origin  in  ignorance  or  deception,  and  frequently  in  both.  A 
man  of  some  ingenuity  in  combining  mechanical  elements,  and  hav- 
ing some  indefinite  scientific  knowledge,  imagines  it  possible  to  ob- 
tain a  certain  result  by  a  given  combination  of  principles,  and  by 
long  brooding  over  this  subject  previous  to  experiment,  at  length 
convinces  himself  of  the  certainty  of  the  anticipated  result.  Hav- 
ing thus  deceived  himself  by  his  sophisms,  he  calls  upon  his  neigh- 
bors to  accept  his  conclusions  as  verified  truths ;  and  soon  acquires 
the  notoriety  of  having  made  a  discovery  which  is  to  change  the 
civilization  of  the  world.  The  shadowy  reputation  which  he  has 
thus  acquired,  is  too  gratifying  to  his  vanity  to  be  at  once  relin- 
quished by  the  announcement  of  his  self-deception ;  and  in  prefer- 
ence he  applies  his  ingenuity  in  devising  means  by  which  to  continue 
the  deception  of  his  friends  and  supporters,  long  after  he  himself 
has  been  convinced  of  the  fallacy  of  his  first  assumptions.  In  this 
way  what  was  commenced  in  folly,  generally  ends  in  fraud."  * 

In  looking  back  upon  the  struggles,  conflicts,  and  obstructions  of 
the  past,  it  really  seems  quite  marvelous  that  so  much  should  have 
been  accomplished,  with  so  limited  expenditure.  These  large  re- 
sults are  partly  due  to  the  admirable  method  of  the  Secretary,  his 
clear  presage  of  effects,  and  his  high  power  of  systematic  distribu- 
tion and  appliance;  partly  to  the  intelligent  zeal  and  sympathetic 
energy  of  the  able  assistants  whom  he  had  associated  with  him 
almost  from  the  organization  of  the  institution ;  and  partly  to  the 
personal  magic  of  the  man, — to  the  surprising  amount  of  voluntary 
co-operation  he  was  able  to  call  forth  in  almost  every  direction,  by 
the  sheer  force  of  his  own  earnest  industry,  and  the  contagious  influ- 
ence of  his  own  devotion  to  the  cause  of  scientific  advancement. 

Scientific  Observatories. — One  of  the  objects  very  dear  to  Henry's 
heart,  was  the  establishment  of  a  physical  observatory  (with  a  phys- 
ical laboratory  in  connection)  for  the  systematic  observation  and 
record  of  important  points  in  celestial  and  terrestrial  physics.  For 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1875,  pp.  39,  40. 


DISCOUKSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  305 

the  proper  maintenance  of  such  an  establishment,  he  thought  an 
income  as  large  as  that  of  the  Smithson  fund,  would  not  be  too 
much :  and  on  two  different  occasions  he  endeavored  to  enlist  the 
interest  of  wealthy  and  public-spirited  citizens  in  such  an  enterprise. 
One  of  these  was  Mr.  McCormick  of  Illinois;  and  a  letter  on  the 
subject  was  afterward  printed  (without  its  address)  in  the  Report  for 
1870.*  The  other  was  Mr.  Lick  of  California:  who  after  some 
hesitation,  decided  in  favor  of  an  astronomical  observatory.  Another 
allied  object  of  great  interest  to  Henry,  and  one  requiring  as  large 
an  endowment,  was  a  well-equipped  chemical  laboratory,  in  which 
— under  judicious  restrictions — those  really  engaged  in  original 
researches,  should  have  liberal  facilities  of  appliances  and  needed 
materials,  furnished  them.  He  considered  that  an  important  part 
of  the  work  to  be  accomplished  by  a  physical  and  chemical  labora- 
tory, would  be  the  determination  and  tabulation  of  "  The  Constants 
of  Nature  and  Art "  with  a  much  wider  range  of  subjects,  and  on  a 
scale  of  much  greater  completeness  and  accuracy,  than  had  heretofore 
been  attempted :  and  thus  might  be  realized  the  great  work  or  works 
of  reference,  suggested  by  Charles  Babbage  as  a  scientific  desider- 
atum, f  Had  the  Smithsonian  fund  been  twice  as  large  as  it  is, 
both  these  great  enterprises  for  the  increase  of  knowledge,  would 
undoubtedly  have  been  successfully  inaugurated  by  Henry. 

Loss  by  Fire. — Early  in  the  year  1865,  (on  the  24th  day  of  Jan- 
uary,) the  central  portion  of  the  Smithsonian  Building  suffered 
from  a  disastrous  fire,  the  effects  of  which  were  aggravated  by  the 
extreme  severity  of  the  winter  cold,  which  greatly  obstructed  the 
efficiency  of  the  engines  brought  into  action.  J  "  The  progress  of 
the  fire  was  so  rapid,  that  but  few  of  the  contents  of  the  upper 
rooms  could  be  removed  before  the  roof  fell  in.  The  conflagration 
was  only  stayed  by  the  incombustible  materials  of  the  main  build- 
ing :"  the  flooring  of  the  upper  story,  forming  an  iron  and  brick 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1870,  pp.  141-144. 

fBrewster's  Edinburgh  Jour.  Sci.  April,  1832,  vol.  vi.  pp.  334-340.— Smithsonian 
Report  for  1856,  pp.  289-302. 

JThe  accident  resulted  from  the  carelessness  of  some  workmen  in  the  upper 
picture  gallery,  who  in  temporarily  setting  up  a  stove,  inserted  the  pipe  through 
a  wall-lining  into  a  furring   space  (supposing  it  a  flue),  but  which   conducted 
directly  under  the  rafters  of  the  roof. 
20 


306  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

vaulting  over  the  lower  or  principal  story.  Neither  wing  of  the 
building  was  reached  by  the  fire ;  and  the  valuable  Library  (not 
then  transferred  to  the  Capitol),  and  the  Museum,  fortunately 
escaped  without  injury.  The  Stanley  collection  of  Indian  portraits, 
comprising  about  200  paintings,  and  estimated  as  worth  20,000 
dollars,  was  entirely  destroyed.  A  fine  full-sized  copy  in  Carrara 
marble,  by  John  Gott,  of  the  antique  statue  known  as  "  The  Dying 
Gladiator/'  was  crumbled  into  a  formless  mass  of  stone. 

The  Secretary's  office  unfortunately  fell  within  the  range  of  the 
flames.  "The  most  irreparable  loss  was  that  of  the  records,  con- 
sisting of  the  official,  scientific,  and  miscellaneous  correspondence ; 
embracing  35,000  pages  of  copied  letters  which  had  been  sent,  (at 
least  30,000  of  which  were  the  composition  of  the  Secretary,)  and 
50,000  pages  of  letters  received  by  the  Institution ;  the  receipts  for 
publications  and  specimens ;  reports  on  various  subjects  which  have 
been  referred  to  the  Institution ;  the  records  of  experiments  insti- 
tuted by  the  Secretary  for  the  Government;  four  manuscripts  of 
original  investigations,  [memoirs  by  collaborators,]  which  had  been 
adopted  by  the  Institution  for  publication ;  a  large  number  of  papers 
and  scientific  notes  of  the  Secretary;  a  series  of  diaries,  memorandum 
and  account  books."  *  This  truly  "  irreparable  loss  "  of  the  original 
notes  of  many  series  of  experiments  by  Henry,  of  varied  character, 
running  back  for  thirty  years,  kept  for  the  purpose  of  reduction 
and  discussion,  or  further  extension  (as  leisure  might  permit),  and 
of  which  but  few  had  been  published  even  by  results,  —  was  borne 
by  their  author  with  his  characteristic  equanimity;  and  was  very 
rarely  alluded  to  by  him,  unless  when  in  answer  to  inquiries  respect- 
ing particular  points  of  his  researches,  he  was  compelled  to  excuse 
the  absence  of  precise  data. 

The  Lecture  Room — a  model  of  its  class  —  entirely  burned  out 
by  the  fire,  was  not  reconstructed :  but  the  space  it  occupied  on  the 
upper  floor,  was  with  the  adjacent  rooms  (used  as  the  apparatus 
room,  and  the  art  gallery)  thrown  into  one  large  hall,  200  feet  long, 
— at  present  occupied  as  the  ethnological  museum.  Advantage 
was  taken  of  the  hazard  demonstrated  by  the  fire,  to  induce  Con- 
gress in  the  following  year  to  transfer  the  custody  of  the  Smith- 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1865,  p.  18. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  307 

sonian  collection  of  scientific  works  to  the  National  Library:  and 
the  propriety  of  this  change  was  thus  defended.  "The  east  wing 
of  the  Smithsonian  building,  in  which  the  books  were  deposited  is 
not  fire-proof,  and  is  liable  to  destruction  by  accident  or  the  torch 
of  the  incendiary,  while  the  rooms  of  the  Capitol  are  of  incom- 
bustible materials.  This  wing  was  moreover  filled  to  overflowing ; 
and  a  more  extended  and  secure  depository  could  not  be  obtained, 
except  by  another  large  draught  on  the  accumulated  funds  intended 
to  form  part  of  the  permanent  capital/'  * 

Second  Visit  to  Europe. — At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Regents, 
held  February  3rd,  1870,  "  General  Delafield  in  behalf  of  the  Exec- 
utive Committee,  stated  that  they  deemed  it  highly  important  for 
the  interests  of  the  Institution  in  the  promotion  of  science,  and  due 
to  the  Secretary  for  his  long  and  devoted  services,  that  he  should 
visit  Europe  to  consult  with  the  savans  and  societies  of  Great  Britain 
and  the  continent;  and  he  therefore  hoped  that  a  leave  of  absence 
Avould  be  granted  to  Professor  Henry  for  several  months,  and  an 
allowance  be  made  for  his  expenses.  On  motion  of  Dr.  Maclean  it 
was  unanimously  Resolved,  That  Professor  Henry,  Secretary  of  the 
Institution,  be  authorized  to  visit  Europe  in  behalf  of  the  interests 
of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  and  that  he  be  granted  from  three 
to  six  months  leave  of  absence,  and  two  thousand  dollars  for 
travelling  expenses  for  this  purpose."  f 

It  is  not  necessary  here  to  recount  the  particulars  of  this  second 
visit  of  Henry  to  Europe,  more  fully  than  in  the  brief  account 
given  by  him  in  his  annual  Report.  "  Before  closing  this  report,  it 
is  proper  that  I  should  refer  to  a  resolution  adopted  by  your  honor- 
able board  at  its  last  session,  granting  me  leave  of  absence  to  visit 
Europe  to  confer  with  savans  and  societies  relative  to  the  Institu- 
tion, and  making  provision  for  the  payment  of  my  expenses.  The 
presentation  of  this  proposition  was  entirely  without  my  knowl- 
edge, but  I  need  scarcely  say  that  its  unanimous  adoption  was 
highly  gratifying  to  my  feelings ;  and  that  I  availed  myself  of  the 
privilege  it  offered  with  a  grateful  appreciation  of  the  kindness 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1866,  p.  14. 
t  Smithsonian  Report  for  1869,  p.  89. 


308  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH   HENRY. 

intended.  I  sailed  from  New  York  on  the  1st  of  June,  returning 
after  an  absence  of  four  and  a  half  months,  much  improved  in 
health,  and  with  impressions  as  to  science  and  education  in  the  Old 
World,  which  may  be  of  value  in  directing  the  affairs  of  the  Insti- 
tution. Although  limited  as  to  time,  and  my  plans  interfered  with 
somewhat  by  the  war,  I  visited  England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  Bel- 
gium, parts  of  Germany  and  France.  But  deferring  for  the  present 
an  account  of  my  travels,  and  the  observations  connected  with 
them,  I  will  merely  state  that  as  your  representative,  I  was  every- 
where kindly  received,  and  was  highly  gratified  with  the  commen- 
dations bestowed  on  the  character  and  operations  of  the  Institution 
intrusted  to  your  care."  * 

Service  on  the  Light-House  Board. — While  the  whole  high  bent 
of  Henry's  mind  was  rather  toward  abstract  than  utilitarian 
research,  there  was  no  well  devised  system  of  practical  benefit  for 
man,  that  did  not  command  his  earnest  sympathy  or  enlist  his 
active  co-operation,  —  no  labor  in  such  co-operation  from  which  he 
shrank,  if  he  felt  that  without  the  sacrifice  of  other  duties,  he 
could  make  such  labor  useful.  On  the  establishment  of  the  Light- 
House  Board,  in  1852,  Henry  was  appointed  one  of  its  members; 
and  although  his  valuable  time  was  already  fully  occupied,  he  con- 
sented to  serve  on  the  Board,  in  the  hope  of  aiding  to  benefit  the 
interests  of  navigation.  To  the  requirements  of  his  new  position, 
he  brought  his  accustomed  energy,  skill,  and  eminently  practical 
judgment;  and  soon  made  his  influence  felt  throughout  the  light- 
house service.f 


*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1870,  p.  45. 

t  In  less  than  ten  years  from  the  organization  of  the  Light-House  Board,  the 
lenticular  system  of  AUQUSTIN  JEAN  FRESNEL  had  been  introduced  into  all  the 
light-houses  of  the  United  States.  LEONOR  FRESNEL,  Secretary  of  the  LightrHouse 
Board  of  France,  (the  brother  of  that  distinguished  physicist,)  in  a  letter  addressed 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  United  States  Light-House  Board,  dated  May  7th,  1861,  says: 
"The  prodigious  development  of  this  service  within  so  short  a  time  under  the 
Light-House  Board,  has  truly  astonished  me  My  old  experience  in  fact  enables 
me  the  better  to  appreciate  how  much  energy  and  activity  were  necessary  to 
bring  to  this  degree  of  perfection,  the  light-house  service  of  such  a  vast  expanse 
of  coast,  as  well  on  the  Pacific,  as  on  the  Atlantic,  without  mentioning  the  task 
of  succeeding  in  establishing  against  hostile  prejudices  the  adoption  of  a  new 
system."  (Report  to  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Feb.  4,  1862.  Mis.  Doc.  No.  61,  37th 
Cong.  2nd  Sess.  Senate,  p.  16.) 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  309 

When  the  steadily  advancing  cost  of  whale  oil  made  it  necessary 
to  seek  for  some  more  economical  illuminant,  he  attacked  the  prob- 
lem with  his  habit  of  scientific  method.  Colza  oil  or  rape-seed  oil 
had  been  used  in  France  with  some  success;  and  efforts  were  made 
to  introduce  its  culture  and  production  in  this  country.  Lard  oil 
had  been  tested  by  Professor  J.  H.  Alexander  of  Baltimore,  and 
pronounced  by  him  of  very  inferior  value  as  an  illuminant.  For 
accuracy  of  determination,  Henry  caused  to  be  prepared  at  the 
Light-house  Depot  on  Staten  Island,  a  long  dark  fire-proof  cham- 
ber, and  had  it  painted  black  on  all  its  interior  surfaces  for  the 
purpose  of  photometric  observations.  In  ordinary  lamps,  the  colza 
oil  was  found  to  be  about  equal  to  whale  oil  in  illuminating  power, 
and  lard  oil  inferior  to  it.  Petroleum  or  mineral  oil  was  also  tried ; 
but  its  quality  was  at  that  time  too  variable,  and  its  use  was  found 
to  be  too  dangerous.  Experiment  showed  that  lard  oil  had  a 
greater  specific  gravity  than  sperm  oil,  a  less  capillarity  or  ascen- 
sional attraction  in  a  wick,  and  a  less  perfect  fluidity.  The  con- 
ditions were  varied;  and  it  was  found  that  with  elevation  of 
temperature,  the  fluidity,  and  the  capillarity,  of  the  lard  oil 
increased  more  rapidly  than  those  of  the  sperm  oil,  until  at  about 
250°  F.  the  former  surpassed  the  latter  in  these  qualities.  With 
these  results,  it  became  important  to  compare  the  oils  in  large 
lamps,  such  as  were  actually  required  for  the  lanterns  of  light- 
houses. The  heat  evolved  by  the  large-sized  Argand  burners, 
would  seem  peculiarly  to  favor  the  lard  oil :  a  few  trials,  with  a 
proper  adaptation  of  the  lamps,  established  its  supremacy;  and 
conclusively  demonstrated — contrary  to  all  the  laboratory  trials  of 
former  experimenters,  that  for  the  purpose  desired,  this  contemned 
article  was  for  equal  quantities  a  more  brilliant  illuminant  than 
mineral  kerosene  oil,  or  vegetable  colza  oil,  or  animal  sperm  oil, 
while  its  market  price  was  only  about  one-fourth  that  of  the  latter.* 
Against  all  the  opposition  of  interested  dealers,  and  prejudiced  keep- 
ers, the  lard  oil  was  at  once  introduced  into  actual  use  in  the  years 
1865  and  1866,  in  all  the  light-houses  of  the  United  States;  with 
a  saving  of  at  least  one  dollar  on  every  gallon  of  the  hundred 
thousand  in  annual  use;  that  is  of  100,000  dollars  per  annum. 

*See  "Supplement,"  NOTE  N. 


310  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

During  the  progress  of  these  useful  labors,  no  less  important 
investigations  were  commenced,  on  the  most  efficient  forms  of 
apparatus  for  acoustic  signalling,  as  the  substitutes  for  light  signals 
during  the  prevalence  of  sea-board  fogs.  "Among  the  impedi- 
ments to  navigation,  none  perhaps  are  more  to  be  dreaded  than 
those  which  arise  from  fogs.  -  -  -  The  only  means  at  present 
known  for  obviating  the  difficulty,  is  that  of  employing  powerful 
sounding  instruments  which  may  be  heard  at  a  sufficient  distance 
through  the  fog,  to  give  timely  warning  of  impending  danger."  * 

Gun  signals  were  early  abandoned,  as  inefficient,  dangerous,  and 
expensive :  inefficient,  because  of  both  "  the  length  of  the  intervals 
between  the  successive  explosions,  and  the  brief  duration  of  the 
sound,  which  renders  it  difficult  to  determine  with  accuracy  its 
direction."  Innumerable  projects  eagerly  pressed  upon  the  Board 
by  visionary  inventors  (some  of  them  being  rattles,  gongs,  or  organ 
pipes  operated  by  manual  cranks,  many  of  them  being  varieties  of 
automatic  horn  or  whistle  operated  by  the  winds  or  the  waves) 
were  impartially  tested,  and  uniformly  rejected  as  wholly  insuffi- 
cient: very  few  of  their  projectors  having  the  slightest  practical 
idea  of  the  requirements  of  the  service.  Experiments  on  steam- 
whistles  of  large  size  and  on  horns  with  vibrating  steel  tongues  or 
reeds,  sounded  by  steam-power,  or  by  hot-air  engines,  varied  and 
continued  for  several  years  under  wide  changes  of  conditions, 
finally  determined  their  most  efficient  size  and  character,  f 

In  1867,  comparative  trials  were  made  at  Sandy  Hook  (on  the 
Jersey  shore,  at  the  entrance  to  Raritan  Bay,  and  to  New  York 
Bay,)  with  three  powerful  instruments;  a  large  steam- whistle 
whose  cup  was  8  inches  in  diameter,  and  made  adjustable  in  pitch; 
a  large  reed  trumpet  17  feet  long  and  38  inches  in  diameter  at  its 
flaring  mouth,  whose  steel  tongue  was  10  inches  long,  2}  inches 

*  Report  of  Light-House  Board  for  1874,  p.  83. 

f  An  enterprising  inventor  had  secured  a  patent  for  a  metallic  compound  or 
alloy  for  steam- whistles,  especially  adapted  to  increase  greatly  their  power  as  fog- 
signals.  In  vain  was  he  assured  that  his  "improvement"  was  a  fallacy;  that  the 
cylindrical  cup  of  the  whistle  was  not  a  bell,  but  only  a  resonant  chamber;  and 
that  its  material  was  comparatively  unimportant.  He  was  only  with  difficulty 
convinced,  when  HENRY  had  his  whistle  formally  tested,  with  a  stout  cord  wound 
tightly  around  its  cylindrical  surface:  when  its  tone  under  steam  escape  was 
proved  to  be  as  full,  as  loud,  and  as  penetrating,  as  with  the  cord  removed. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  311 

wide,  and  half  an  inch  thick  at  its  smaller  vibrating  end,  and  was 
blown  by  a  hot-air  engine ;  and  lastly  a  large  siren  horn  operated 
by  steam  at  different  pressures,  the  aerial  vibration  being  produced 
by  the  intermittence  of  a  revolving  grating  disk  or  valve  in  the 
small  end  of  the  horn,  driven  at  high  velocities  by  the  steam 
engine,  and  its  pitch  regulated  by  the  adjustable  speed  of  the  revolv- 
ing disk.  The  trumpet  or  fog-horn  was  provided  with  a  series  of 
replaceable  steel  tongues  of  different  sizes,  and  the  siren  was  driven 
at  five  different  pitches  of  from  250  to  700  impulses  per  second, 
and  at  steam  pressures  varying  from  20  pounds  to  100  pounds  per 
square  inch.  For  the  purpose  of  accurate  estimation,  within  short 
distances,  a  phonometer  or  "  artificial  ear "  was  employed,  having 
at  its  smaller  upturned  end  a  horizontal  drum  of  stretched  mem- 
brane, sprinkled  with  sand,  after  the  plan  devised  by  Sondhauss. 
Trumpets  of  the  same  size,  were  made  of  different  materials,  as  of 
brass,  iron,  and  wood;  but  these  differences  were  found  to  exercise 
little  or  no  influence  on  the  intensity  or  penetration  of  the  sound. 
Trumpets  were  also  made  of  different  shapes,  straight  and  curved, 
and  square  as  well  as  round,  with  equal  lengths  and  equal  areas  of 
cross  section;  from  whose  trials  it  appeared  that  the  conical  form 
gave  nearly  double  the  distance  of  action  on  the  sand  of  the  "arti- 
ficial ear,"  that  was  given  by  the  pyramidal  form.  Such  investi- 
gations—  varied  and  long-continued,  serve  to  show  the  conscientious 
earnestness  with  which  Henry  sought  to  give  the  highest  efficiency 
to  the  expedients  available  for  the  protection  of  life  and  property 
along  our  extended  sea  coast. 

The  steam-whistle  was  found  to  be  less  powerful  than  the  trum- 
pet, with  the  same  expenditures  of  fuel.  Steam- whistles  were 
afterwards  tried  of  10  inches,  12  inches,  and  18  inches  in  diameter. 
The  largest  size  was  not  found  to  give  results  proportioned  to  its 
increased  consumption;  and  the  10  or  12  inch  size  was  regarded 
as  practically  the  most  efficient.  The  siren  was  found  to  be  the 
most  powerful  and  penetrating  of  the  instruments  tested,  as  it 
admitted  more  advantageously  the  application  of  a  higher  steam 
expenditure.  The  best  result  with  this  instrument  was  attained 
with  a  pressure  of  from  60  to  80  pounds,  and  at  a  pitch  between 
350  and  400  vibrations  per  second.  Under  favorable  conditions, 


312  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

this  instrument  frequently  made  itself  heard  at  a  distance  of  fifteen, 
and  twenty  miles.  Henry's  large  experience  with  the  occasional 
aerial  impediments  to  sound  propagation,*  and  his  strong  sense  of 
the  vital  importance  of  having  fog-signals  recognized  at  a  distance, 
under  the  most  adverse  conditions,  led  him  to  favor  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  most  powerful  sounders  attainable,  without  absolutely 
limiting  the  decision  to  their  relative  economy.  Hence  he  was  the 
first  to  devise  improvements  in  the  siren,  and  to  press  its  adoption 
at  important  or  dangerous  stations,  notwithstanding  its  higher  con- 
sumption of  steam  or  heat  power,  f 

Partly  under  the  stimulus  given  to  the  sale  of  lard  oil  by  the 
striking  proofs  of  its  excellence  as  an  illuminant  under  favorable 
conditions,  furnished  by  Henry,  this  article  slowly  advanced  in 
price ;  though  probably  not  to  an  extent  of  more  than  a  fourth  part 
additional  cost.  Henry's  energies  again  were  called  into  requisition 
to  devise  a  remedy.  Neither  gas,  nor  electricity,  the  favorite  means 
of  numerous  projectors  and  advisers,  appeared  justified,  on  the 
score  of  economy.  J  A  new  series  of  elaborate  experiments  was 
undertaken  to  determine  whether  mineral  oil  (go  abundant  as  to  be 
easily  procurable  at  one-third  the  cost  of  lard  oil)  could  not  be 
made  available.  The  great  improvements  introduced  into  its  prep- 

*  An  abstract  of  Henry's  elaborate  and  invaluable  researches  on  some  abnormal 
phenomena  of  Sound— the  crowning  labor  of  his  life,  must  be  reserved  for  a  con- 
cluding section. 

f  Major  G.  H.  Elliott,  commissioned  by  the  U.  S.  Light-House  Board  to  make  a 
tour  of  inspection  of  European  Light-house  establishments  in  1873,  in  his  Report 
published  by  the  Senate  in  1874,  says  of  the  British  and  French  systems,  "  I  saw 
many  details  of  construction  and  administration  which  we  can  adopt  to  advan- 
tage, while  there  are  many  in  which  we  excel.  Our  shore  fog-signals  particularly, 
are  vastly  superior  both  in  number  and  power."  (Report  on  European  Light-houses, 
p.  12.)  "To  the  careful  and  laborious  investigations  and  experiments  of  the  dis- 
tinguished Chairman  of  the  Light-House  Board,  prolonged  through  a  series  of 
years,  and  prosecuted  under  a  great  variety  of  conditions,  is  largely  to  be  at- 
tributed the  acknowledged  superiority  of  our  fog-signal  service."  (Journal  of 
Franklin  Institute,  Jan.  1876,  vol.  Ixxi.  p.  43.) 

%  Report  oj  L.  H.  Board  for  1874,  p.  11.  No  agency  (for  whatever  purpose)  has 
proved  so  enticing  to  the  half-informed  as  electricity.  For  years  past  scarcely  a 
month  has  elapsed  without  some  new  form  of  patent  electric-light,  or  some 
marvelous  application  of  electric-lights,  being  pertinaciously  urged  by  sanguine 
"reformers"  upon  the  Light-House  Board  for  adoption;  some  of  these  ideal 
schemes  being  the  mounting  of  electric-lights  on  buoys,  or  on  the  masts  of  light- 
ships, or  their  suspension  from  moored  balloons.  Many  eminently  original 
minds  have  earnestly  desired  to  obtain  contracts  for  supplying  all  the  light- 
houses with  oxy-hydrogen  lime  lights.  In  a  fog,  the  most  powerful  electric-light 
is  as  useless  as  the  cheapest  kerosene  lamp. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  313 

aration  in  later  years  by  high  distillation,  seemed  to  justify  the 
attempt.  Not  only  was  a  laborious  inquiry  into  the  best  conditions 
of  combustion,  by  precise  photometric  measurement  required,  but 
for  the  security  of  the  service,  equally  laborious  examinations  into 
the  best  practicable  methods  of  testing,  of  handling,  and  of  storing 
this  material.*  To  secure  a  proper  oxygenation  in  burning,  a 
modification  of  the  lamp  was  required.  "It  was  soon  apparent 
that  the  use  of  mineral  oil  would  necessitate  a  change  of  lamps, 
and  attention  is  now  directed  to  the  perfection  of  one  which  will 
produce  the  best  results  from  this  illuminant.  It  is  thought  that 
the  lamps  now  used  with  lard  oil  can  be  converted  at  no  great 
expense  and  successfully  used  with  mineral  oil.  Our  experiments 
have  shown  that  this  oil  can  be  more  readily  used  in  the  smaller 
lamps ;  and  it  is  proposed  as  soon  as  suitable  ones  can  be  prepared, 
to  put  it  into  use  at  such  stations  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  order,  as 
may  be  thought  expedient;  when  if  it  be  found  satisfactory,  an 
attempt  will  be  made  to  substitute  it  for  lard  oil  in  lamps  of  the 
higher  orders."  f  "  This  change  is  proposed  entirely  with  reference 
to  economy;  for  it  has  been  found  by  repeated  experiment,  that 
while  a  somewhat  superior  light  may  be  obtained  from  a  small 
lamp  charged  with  kerosene,  a  larger  lamp  charged  with  lard  oil 
affords  the  greater  illuminating  power.  So  great  is  this  difference 
in  lamps  of  the  first  order  with  five  wicks,  that  the  rates  of  light 
from  kerosene  and  lard,  are  as  three  to  four  respectively.  Since 
the  safety  of  the  keeper  and  the  continuity  of  the  light  are  essen- 
tial elements  in  the  choice  of  an  illuminant,  a  thorough  acquaint- 
ance with  the  nature  of  the  substance  is  essentially  necessary. 
With  a  view  therefore  to  the  introduction  of  kerosene,  a  series  of 
experiments  have  been  made  during  the  last  two  years  on  the 
different  varieties  of  this  material  found  in  the  market."  J 

*"It  has  been  established  that  the  ordinary  fire-test  is  insufficient  as  usually 
applied,  and  that  an  explosive  mixture  may  be  formed  by  confining  the  vapors 
given  off  at  a  temperature  in  some  cases  twenty  degrees  lower  than  that  certified 
to  by  the  public  inspector.  That  this  inquiry  is  of  great  practical  importance  to 
the  Light-house  system,  must  be  evident  when  we  reflect  that  means  must  be 
devised  for  testing  the  oil  offered  for  acceptance  in  accordance  with  contracts; 
for  storing  it;  for  transporting  it  to  light-house  stations;  for  preserving  it  in 
butts  at  the  stations ;  and  for  the  instruction  of  the  keepers  in  its  daily  use." 
(Report  of  L.  H.  Board,  1877,  p.  5.) 

t  Report  of  L.  H.  Board,  1875,  p.  6. 

J  Report  of  L.  H.  Board,  1877,  p.  4. 


314  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

In  1871,  on  the  resignation  of  Admiral  Shubrick,  Henry  was 
chosen  as  the  Chairman  of  the  Light-House  Board;  and  his  ener- 
getic labors  in  behalf  of  the  service,  fully  vindicated  the  wisdom  of 
the  choice.  Punctual  in  his  attendance  on  the  weekly  meetings  of 
the  Board,  he  inspired  others  with  a  portion  of  his  own  zealous 
devotion.  Nor  did  he  fail  to  urge  upon  the  Government,  the  con- 
stant need  and  responsibility  of  maintaining  an  efficient  establish- 
ment. He  emphatically  declared  that  "The  character  of  the  aids 
which  any  nation  furnishes  the  mariner  in  approaching  and  leaving 
its  shores,  marks  in  a  conspicuous  degree  its  advancement  in  civili- 
zation. Whatever  tends  to  facilitate  navigation  or  to  lessen  its 
dangers,  serves  to  increase  commerce;  and  hence  is  of  importance 
not  only  to  the  dwellers  on  the  seaboard,  but  to  the  inhabitants  of 
every  part  of  the  country.  -  -  -  Therefore  it  is  of  the  first 
importance  that  the  signals,  whether  of  light  or  sound,  which  indi- 
cate the  direction  of  the  course,  and  the  beacons  which  mark  the 
channel,  shall  be  of  the  most  improved  character,  and  that  they  be 
under  the  charge  of  intelligent,  efficient,  and  trustworthy  attend- 
ants/7 *  And  rising  to  a  higher  argument,  he  pointed  out  that  "  It 
is  not  alone  in  its  economical  aspect  that  a  light-house  system  is  to 
be  regarded :  it  is  a  life-preserving  establishment  founded  on  the 
principles  of  Christian  benevolence,  of  which  none  can  so  well 
appreciate  the  importance  as  he  who  after  having  been  exposed  to 
the  perils  of  the  ocean — it  may  be  for  months  —  finds  himself 
approaching  in  the  darkness  of  night  a  lee  shore.  But  it  is  not 
enough  to  erect  towers,  and  establish  other  signals :  they  must  be 
maintained  in  an  efficient  state  with  uninterrupted  constancy."  f 
Unfailing  continuity  was  the  watch-word  of  his  administration. 

*  Report  of  L.  H.  Board,  1873,  pp.  3,  4.  The  coast  line  of  the  United  States  is  far 
more  extended  than  that  of  any  other  nation  on  the  globe.  "The  magnitude  of 
the  Light-house  system  of  the  United  States  may  be  inferred  from  the  following 
facts:  from  the  St.  Croix  River  on  the  boundary  of  Maine,  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Rio  Grande  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  includes  a  distance  of  over  5,000  miles;  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  a  length  of  about  1,500  miles;  on  the  great  northern  Lakes,  about 
3,000  miles;  and  on  inland  rivers  about  700  miles;  making  a  total  of  more  than 
10,000  miles.  Nearly  every  square  foot  of  the  margin  of  the  sea  throughout  the 
whole  extent  of  5,000  miles  along  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coast,  is  more  or  less 
illuminated  by  light-house  rays;  the  mariner  rarely  losing  sight  of  one  light 
until  he  has  gained  another."  (p.  4,  of  same  Report.) 

t  Report  of  L.  H.  Board,  1874,  p.  5. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  315 

A  formal  report  made  to  the  Honorable  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury by  the  Naval  Secretary  of  the  Light-House  Board,  dated  May 
21st,  1878,  (very  shortly  after  Henry's  death,)  simply  detailing  for 
information,  the  character  of  his  gratuitous  services  to  the  light- 
house establishment  during  a  quarter  of  a  century,  (and  not 
intended  for  the  public,)  takes  the  inevitable  form  of  eulogy.  A 
portion  of  it  is  here  quoted : 

"  As  Chairman  of  this  committee,  Professor  Henry  acted  as  the 
scientific  adviser  of  the  Board.  But  in  addition  it  was  his  duty  to 
conduct  the  experiments  made  by  the  Board,  not  only  in  the  matter 
of  original  investigation,  and  testing  of  the  material  used,  but  in 
examining  and  reporting  on  the  models,  plans,  and  theories,  pre- 
sented by  others  to  the  Board.  The  value  of  the  services  he  ren- 
dered in  this  position  is  simply  inestimable.  He  prepared  the 
formula  for  testing  our  oils;  he  conducted  the  series  of  experiments 
resulting  in  the  substitution  of  lard  oil  for  sperm  oil,  which  effected 
an  immense  saving  in  cost;  and  he  also  conducted  the  experiments 
which  have  resulted  in  making  it  possible  to  substitute  mineral  oil 
for  lard  oil,  when  another  economy  will  be  made.  His  original 
investigation  into  the  laws  of  sound  have  resulted  in  giving  us  a 
fog-signal  service  conceded  to  be  the  best  in  the  world.  His  exami- 
nations into  the  action  of  electricity,  have  enabled  the  Board  to 
almost  completely  protect  its  stations  from  the  effect  of  lightning. 
The  result  of  his  patient,  continuous,  practical  experimentation  is 
visible  everywhere  in  the  service.  No  subject  was  too  vast  for  him 
to  undertake ;  none  too  small  for  him  to  overlook.  And  while  he 
has  brought  into  the  establishment  so  many  practical  applications 
of  science,  he  has  done  almost  as  much  service  by  keeping  out 
what  presented  by  others  seemed  plausible,  but  which  on  examin- 
ation proved  impracticable. 

"Every  theory,  plan,  or  machine,  which  was  pressed  on  the 
Board,  as  for  the  interests  of  commerce  and  navigation,  was  referred 
to  the  committee  on  experiments,  when  it  was  examined  by  its 
Chairman,  and  was  formally  reported  upon.  If  it  had  no  practical 
value,  the  report  on  record  simply  stated  the  inexpediency  of  its 
adoption :  but  the  Professor  often  verbally  pointed  out  to  the  pre- 
senter, its  fallacy;  and  sent  him  away — if  not  satisfied — at  least 


316  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH   HENRY. 

feeling  that  he  had  been  well  treated.  He  thus  prevented  not  only 
the  adoption  of  impracticable  plans,  but  avoided  the  enmity  of 
their  inventors. 

"Professor  Henry  made  many  valuable  reports,  containing  the 
results  of  his  elaborate  experiments  into  matters  which  were  for- 
mally referred  to  him,  which  are  spread  on  the  records  of  the 
Board;  and  the  reports  were  drawn  in  such  form  that  his  sugges- 
tions were  capable  of  and  received  practical  application.  But  in 
addition  to  this,  he  was  constantly  extending  his  scientific  researches 
for  the  benefit  of  the  service  in  all  directions.  His  summer  vaca- 
tions were  as  a  rule  passed  in  experimentation  at  the  laboratory  of 
the  Establishment  at  Staten  Island,  on  its  steamers,  or  at  its  light- 
stations,  pushing  his  inquiries  to  their  last  results.  To  experimen- 
tation in  the  interests  of  this  service,  Professor  Henry  seemed  to 
give  his  whole  heart.  It  appeared  as  if  he  never  lost  sight  of  the 
needs  of  the  Establishment,  and  as  if  he  never  neglected  an  oppor- 
tunity to  advance  its  interests.  In  addition  to  his  other  duties, 
Professor  Henry  presided  as  Chairman  of  the  Light-House  Board 
for  the  last  seven  years  at  its  weekly  meetings,  when  he  did  much 
to  infuse  into  the  different  members  of  the  Board,  his  own  spirit  of 
labor  for,  and  devotion  to  its  interests."  * 

Services  to  the  National  Government. — The  value  of  Henry's 
services  to  the  various  Executive  Departments  of  our  Government, 
faithfully  and  unostentatiously  performed  through  a  long  series  of 
years  and  a  succession  of  Presidential  Administrations,  cannot  be 
estimated,  as  its  history  can  never  be  written.  Whatever  material 
for  it  existed  in  the  form  of  abstracts  of  inquiries,  trials,  and 
reports,  prior  to  1865,  unfortunately  perished  in  the  fire  of  that 
year.  Whenever  in  any  important  case  a  scientific  adviser  could 
be  useful  to  the  proper  conduct  of  a  Bureau,  Henry's  reputation 
generally  pointed  him  out  as  the  most  suitable  expert  and  arbiter. 
On  the  outbreak  of  the  great  civil  war,  the  number  of  such  refer- 

*  Executive  Documents,  No.  94,  Forty-fifth  Congress,  2d  Session,  Senate,  pp.  2,  3.  It 
is  gratifying  to  know  that  on  the  presentation  of  his  report  and  recommendation 
to  Congress,  by  the  high-minded  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  a  moderate  appropri- 
ation for  the  benefit  of  his  bereaved  family  was  at  once  passed,  in  slight  recogni- 
tion of  Henry's  "inestimable"  services. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  317 

ences  was  naturally  very  considerably  increased.  The  Departments 
of  War,  of  the  Navy,  and  of  the  Treasury,  were  besieged  by  pro- 
jectors with  every  imaginable  and  impossible  scheme  for  saving  the 
country,  and  demolishing  the  enemy.  Torpedo  balloons,  electric- 
light  balloons,  wonderful  compounds  destined  to  supersede  gun- 
powder and  revolutionize  the  art  of  war;  cheap  methods  for  the 
manufacture  of  Government  bonds  and  paper-money;  multitudinous 
expedients  for  the  prevention  of  counterfeiting,  by  devices  in  the 
engraving,  by  secret  markings,  by  anti-photographic  inks,  by  pecu- 
liar textures  of  paper,  (applicable  to  coupons,  to  circulating  notes, 
to  revenue  stamps,) — each  warranted  to  be  infallible;  such  were 
among  the  agencies  by  which  patriotic  patentees  and  adroit  adven- 
turers were  willing  to  serve  their  country  and  to  reap  their  reward 
by  the  moderate  royalty  or  percentage  due  to  the  magnificence  of 
the  public  benefit.  Such  were  among  the  unenviable  tasks  of 
examination  and  adjudication  accepted  by  Henry,  only  from  an 
intrepid  sense  of  duty. 

"The  course  which  has  been  pursued  of  rendering  the  Govern- 
ment in  its  late  trials,  every  aid  which  could  be  supplied  by  scientific 
research,  has  been  warmly  approved.  As  most  persons  are  probably 
entirely  ignorant  of  the  services  really  rendered  to  the  Government 
by  the  Institution,  I  may  here  state  the  fact  that  a  large  share  of 
my  time,  (all  indeed  which  could  be  spared  from  official  duties,) 
has  been  devoted  for  the  last  four  years  to  investigations  required 
by  the  public  exigencies.  Within  this  period,  several  hundred 
reports,  requiring  many  experiments,  and  pertaining  either  to  pro- 
posals purporting  to  be  of  high  national  importance,  or  relating  to 
the  quality  of  the  multifarious  articles  offered  in  fulfillment  of  legal 
contracts,  have  been  rendered.  The  opinions  advanced  in  many  of 
these  reports,  not  only  cost  much  valuable  time,  but  also  involved 
grave  responsibilities.  While  on  the  one  hand  the  rejection  of  a 
proposition  would  be  in  contravention  to  the  high  importance 
claimed  for  it  by  its  author,  on  the  other  the  approval  of  it  would 
perhaps  incur  the  risk  of  the  fruitless  expenditures  of  a  large 
amount  of  public  money.  It  is  not  necessary,  I  trust,  to  say  that 
the  labor  thus  rendered  was  entirely  gratuitous,  or  that  in  the 
judgment  pronounced  in  any  case,  no  regard  was  paid  to  the  inter- 


318  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

ested  solicitations  or  personal  influence  of  the  parties  concerned :  on 
the  contrary  it  has  in  some  instances  resulted  from  the  examination 
of  materials  sold  to  the  Government,  that  attempted  fraud  has  been 
exposed,  and  the  baffled  speculator  received  his  due  reward  in  con- 
demnation and  punishment.  These  facts  it  is  thought  will  be 
deemed  a  sufficient  answer  to  those  who  have  seemed  disposed  to 
reproach  the  Institution  with  the  want  of  a  more  popular  demon- 
stration—  but  of  a  really  far  less  useful  or  efficient  aid  in  the 
support  of  the  Government." : 

In  the  performance  of  these  troublesome  and  often  disagreeable 
labors,  conducted  with  the  single  aim  necessitated  by  all  his  scien- 
tific habits  and  instincts,  it  of  course  resulted  that  a  great  majority 
of  his  judgments  and  recommendations  were  decidedly  adverse  to 
the  hopes  and  wishes  of  the  aspirants  to  fame  and  fortune.  Having 
once  satisfied  himself  of  the  frivolity  or  the  chicanery  of  an  article 
or  project,  his  decision  was  inflexible;  and  although  importunate 
appeals  to  the  Department  Secretary,  abetted  by  a  prostituted 
political  or  other  influence,  in  one  or  twro  instances  succeeded  in 
fastening  for  a  time  upon  the  public  Treasury  a  worthless  or  a 
noxious  leech,  the  vast  number  of  such,  excluded  from  experi- 
mental imbibitions  by  Henry's  critical  supervision,  must  have  been 
a  protection  to  the  public  interests  quite  beyond  the  reach  of  esti- 
mation :  Avhile  on  the  other  hand,  the  supplies  of  honest  contractors 
awarded  their  just  commendation,  and  the  rare  proposals  of  real 
merit  favorably  reported  upon,  which  from  a  hasty  survey  might 
have  been  confounded  and  overlaid  with  the  mass  of  untried 
puerilities,  no  less  served  to  strengthen  and  assist  the  Government 
during  its  years  of  greatest  trial,  need,  and  exhaustion. 

From  the  outset  of  the  unnatural  sectional  revolt,  fully  appre- 
ciating the  vastness  of  the  interests,  the  sacrifices,  and  the  dangers 
involved,  Henry  contemplated  the  crisis  —  not  with  despondency, 
but  with  a  profound  sorrow  and  solicitude.  While  his  sympathies 
and  his  hopes  were  all  for  the  preservation  of  the  national  integrity 
of  jurisdiction,  he  was  little  given  to  public  exhibitions  of  his  feel- 
ings. Undemonstrative — less  from  temperament  than  from  the 
deliberate  and  habitual  subjection  of  emotional  expression  to  reason, 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1864,  p.  15. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  319 

during  those  times  of  feverish  excitement  apprehension  and  circum- 
spection necessarily  attendant  on  the  prevalence  of  a  gigantic  rebel- 
lion, (unparalleled  in  incentive,  in  temper,  and  in  magnitude,)  many 
of  whose  leaders  had  been  among  his  personal  friends,  he  was  not 
unnaturally  looked  upon  by  many  as  lukewarm  in  his  patriotism, 
if  not  disloyal  in  his  citizenship.  To  the  occasional  inuendoes  of 
the  press,  he  deigned  no  answers :  he  was  the  last  man  to  accord 
compliance  with  the  urgency  of  a  popular  clamor.  And  yet  during 
the  entire  period  of  the  Southern  Insurrection,  he  was  the  personal 
and  trusted  friend  of  President  Lincoln.  * 

CONTRIBUTIONS   TO   SCIENCE   AT   WASHINGTON. 

In  addition  to  what  may  be  called  the  public  labors  of  Henry  so 
diligently  performed  in  various  fields  after  his  advent  to  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  it  is  well  briefly  to  contemplate  the  special  scien- 
tific work  he  was  able  to  accomplish  in  the  intervals  of  his  exacting 
occupations,  that  some  estimate  may  be  formed  of  the  independent 
value  of  his  later  contributions,  as  well  as  of  his  wonderful  indus- 
try. While  still  engaged  in  his  difficult  task  of  organizing  and 
shaping  the  policy  of  the  Institution,  in  1850,  on  taking  occasion 
to  present  before  the  American  Association  at  New  Haven,  Conn. 

*  Early  in  the  war  (in  the  autumn  of  1861,)  a  caller  at  the  Presidential  Mansion 
very  anxious  to  see  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  nation,  was  informed  that  he 
could  not  then  be  seen,  being  engaged  in  an  important  private  consultation. 
The  caller  not  to  be  repulsed,  wrote  on  a  piece  of  paper  that  he  must  see  Mr. 
Lincoln  personally,  on  a  matter  of  vital  and  pressing  importance  to  the  public 
welfare.  This  of  course  secured  his  admission  to  the  presence  of  Mr.  Lincoln, 
who  was  sitting  with  a  middle-aged  gentleman.  Observing  the  hesitancy  of  his 
visitor,  the  President  told  him  he  might  speak  freely,  as  only  a  friend  was 
present.  Whereupon  the  visitor  announced  that  for  several  evenings  past  he 
had  observed  a  light  exhibited  on  the  highest  of  the  Smithsonian  towers,  for  a 
few  minutes  about  nine  o'clock,  with  mysterious  movements,  which  he  felt 
satisfied  were  designed  as  signals  to  the  rebels  encamped  on  Munson's  hill  in 
Virginia.  Having  gravely  listened  to  this  information  with  raised  eyebrows,  but 
a  subdued  twinkle  of  the  eye,  the  President  turned  to  his  companion,  saying 
"What  do  you  think  of  that?  Professor  Henry."  Rising  with  a  smile,  the  person 
addressed  replied,  that  from  the  time  mentioned,  he  presumed  the  mysterious 
light  shone  from  the  lantern  of  an  attendant  who  was  required  at  nine  o'clock 
each  evening  to  observe  and  record  the  indications  of  the  meteorological  instru- 
ments placed  on  the  tower.  The  painful  confusion  of  the  officious  informant,  at 
once  appealed  to  Henry's  sensibility;  and  quite  unmindful  of  the  President,  he 
approached  the  visitor,  offering  his  hand,  and  with  a  courteous  regard  counselled 
him  never  to  be  abashed  at  the  issue  of  a  conscientious  discharge  of  duty,  and 
never  to  let  the  fear  of  ridicule  interfere  with  its  faithful  execution. 


320  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

a  resume  of  the  electrical  phenomena  exhibited  by  the  Ley  den  jar, 
and  their  true  interpretation,  he  remarked  that  "for  the  last  three 
and  a  half  years,  all  his  time  and  all  his  thoughts  had  been  given 
to  the  details  of  the  business  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution.  He 
had  been  obliged  to  withdraw  himself  entirely  from  scientific 
research;  but  he  hoped  that  now  the  Institution  had  got  under 
way,  and  the  Regents  had  allowed  him  some  able  assistants,  that  he 
would  be  enabled  in  part  at  least  to  return  to  his  first  love — the 
investigation  of  the  phenomena  of  nature."  * 

Thermal  Telescope. — Shortly  after  his  establishment  at  Washing- 
ton, he  continued  a  series  of  former  experiments  with  the  "  thermo- 
galvanic  multiplicator "  devised  by  Nobili  and  Melloni  in  1831; 
and  by  some  slight  but  significant  modifications  of  the  apparatus, 
he  succeeded  in  imparting  to  it  a  most  surprising  delicacy  of  action. 
With  the  thermo-electric  pile  carefully  adjusted  at  the  focus  of  a 
suitable  reflector,  his  "thermal  telescope"  when  directed  to  the 
celestial  vault,  indicated  that  the  heat  radiated  inward  by  our 
atmosphere  when  clear,  is  least  at  the  zenith,  and  increases  down- 
ward to  the  horizon ;  as  was  to  have  been  inferred  from  its  increas- 
ing mass :  when  directed  to  clouds,  they  were  found  to  differ  very 
widely  accordingly  as  they  were  condensing  or  being  dissipated; 
some  even  indicating  a  less  amount  of  radiation  than  the  surround- 
ing atmosphere.  When  directed  to  a  horse  in  a  distant  field,  its 
animal  heat  concentrated  on  the  pile,  was  distinctly  made  manifest 
on  the  galvanometer  needle.  Even  the  heat  from  a  man's  face  at 
the  distance  of  a  mile  could  be  detected ;  and  that  from  the  side  of 
a  house  at  several  miles  distance.f  These  and  many  similar  obser- 
vations demonstrated  to  sense  the  inductions  of  reason,  that  there 
is  a  constant  and  universal  exchange  by  radiation  in  straight  lines 
from  every  object  in  nature,  following  the  same  laws  as  the  palpable 
emanation  from  incandescent  bodies;  and  that  even  when  the 
amplitude  of  the  thermal  vibrations  (equivalent  to  the  square  root 
of  their  dynamic  energy)  is  reduced  a  million  fold,  its  existence 
may  still  be  distinctly  traced. 

*  Proceed.  Am.  Assoc.  4th  Meeting,  New  Haven,  Aug.  1850,  p.  378. 
fSilliman's  Am.  Jour.  Set.  Jan.  1848,  vol.  v.  pp.  113,  114. 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR.  S21 

Henry  showed  by  experiment,  that  ice  could  be  employed  both 
as  a  convex  lens  for  converging  heat  to  a  focus,  and  also  as  a  con- 
cave mirror  for  the  same  purpose:  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
incident  rays  being  transmitted,  a  large  portion  reflected,  and  the 
remainder  (a  much  smaller  quantity)  absorbed  by  the  ice. 

In  1849,  for  the  purpose  of  estimating  the  effects  of  certain 
meteorological  conditions  of  the  atmosphere,  he  made  some  experi- 
ments on  the  lateral  radiation  from  a  current  of  ascending  heated  air 
at  different  distances  above  the  flame ;  the  latter  being  thoroughly 
eclipsed. 

He  also  experimented  on  the  radiation  of  heat  from  a  hydrogen 
flame,  which  was  shown  to  be  quite  small,  notwithstanding  the  high 
temperature  of  the  flame.  By  placing  an  infusible  and  incombus- 
tible solid  in  the  flame,  while  the  temperature  is  much  reduced,  the 
radiant  light  and  heat  are  greatly  increased:* — results  closely 
analogous  to  those  obtained  by  him  in  the  differences  between  the 
audibility  of  vibrating  tuning-forks  when  suspended  by  a  soft  thread, 
or  when  rigidly  attached  to  a  sounding-board.  These  results  have 
also  an  undoubted  significance  with  regard  to  celestial  radiations ; 
not  only  as  to  the  differences  between  gaseous  nebulae  and  stars  or 
clusters,  but  as  to  the  differences  between  stars  in  a  probably  differ- 
ent state  of  condensation  or  of  specific  gravity. 

A  few  years  later,  he  continued  his  investigation  of  this  subject 
of  radiation,  more  especially  with  reference  to  Rumford's  "Obser- 
vations relative  to  the  means  of  increasing  the  quantities  of  Heat 
obtained  in  the  Combustion  of  Fuel :"  published  in  Great  Britain  in 
1802.f  He  found  that  Rumford's  recommendation  of  the  intro- 
duction of  balls  of  clay  or  of  fire  brick  (about  two  and  a  half 
inches  in  diameter)  into  a  coal  fire,  was  fully  justified  as  an  eco- 
nomic measure :  more  heat  being  thereby  radiated  from  the  fire  into 
the  room,  and  less  being  carried  up  the  flue.  He  also  showed 
however  that  for  culinary  purposes,  while  the  incandescent  or 
heated  clay  increases  the  radiation,  and  thereby  improves  the 
quality  of  the  fire  for  roasting,  it  correspondingly  expends  the  tem- 
perature, and  thereby  diminishes  its  power  for  boiling.  "That  a 


21 


*  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  Oct.  19,  1849,  vol.  v.  p.  108. 
t  Journal  Royal  Institution,  1802,  vol.  i.  p.  28. 


322  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HEXRY. 

solid  substance  increases  the  radiation  of  the  heat  of  a  flame,  is  an 
interesting  fact  in  connection  with  the  nature  of  heat  itself.  It 
would  seem  to  show  that  the  vibrations  of  gross  matter  are  neces- 
sary to  give  sufficient  intensity  of  impulse  to  produce  the  phe- 
nomena of  ordinary  radiant  heat."  * 

In  1851,  he  read  before  the  American  Association  at  Albany,  a 
paper  "  On  the  Theory  of  the  so-called  Imponderables :"  (mainly  a 
development  of  his  earlier  discussion  in  1846,  of  the  molecular 
constitution  of  matter,)  in  which  he  forcibly  criticised  a  frequent 
tendency  to  assume  or  multiply  unknown  and  unrealizable  modes 
of  action :  holding  that  with  regard  to  the  most  subtle  agencies  of 
nature,  we  have  no  warrant  by  the  strict  scientific  method,  for 
resorting  to  other  than  the  observed  and  established  laws  of  matter 
and  force,  until  it  has  been  exhaustively  demonstrated  that  these 
are  insufficient.  The  fundamental  laws  of  mechanical  philosophy 
"are  five  in  number;  viz.  the  two  laws  of  force — attraction,  and 
repulsion,  varying  with  some  function  of  the  distance;  and  secondly, 
the  three  laws  of  motion  —  the  law  of  inertia,  of  the  co-existence 
of  motions,  and  of  action  and  re-action.  Of  these  laws  we  can 
give  no  explanation:  they  are  at  present  considered  as  ultimate 
facts;  to  which  all  mechanical  phenomena  are  referred,  or  from 
which  they  are  deduced  by  logical  inference.  The  existence  of 
these  laws  as  has  been  said,  is  deduced  from  the  phenomena  of  the 
operations  of  matter  in  masses;  but  we  apply  them  by  analogy  to 
the  minute  and  invisible  portions  of  matter  which  constitute  the 
atoms  or  molecules  of  gases,  and  we  find  that  the  inferences  from 
this  assumption  are  borne  out  by  the  results  of  experience."  He 
regarded  the  modern  kinetic  or  dynamic  theory  of  gases,  by  its 
predictions  and  verifications,  as  furnishing  almost  a  complete  estab- 
lishment of  the  atomic  and  molecular  theory  of  matter.  Referring 
to  the  ingenious  hypothesis  of  Boscovich,  he  thought  that  though 
well  adapted  to  embrace  the  two  static  laws  above  mentioned,  it  did 
not  appear  equally  well  adapted  to  satisfy  in  any  intelligible  sense 
the  three  kinetic  laws.  He  contended  that  any  attempt  at  conform- 
ing our  conception  of  the  ultimate  constitution  of  matter  to  the 

*  Proceed.  Am.  Assoc.  Providence,  Aug.  1855,  pp.  112-116.  "On  the  Effect  of  min- 
gling Radiating  substances  with  Combustible  materials." 


DISCOUKSE   OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  323 

inductions  of  experience,  would  seem  to  conduct  us  directly  to  the 
atomic  hypothesis  of  Newton.  A  careful  study  of  the  dynamics 
of  the  so-called  " imponderables"  certainly  tended  to  their  unifica- 
tion. Admitting  the  difficulty  of  framing  an  entirely  satisfactory 
theory  of  the  resultant  transverse  action  of  electricity,  he  suggested 
that  a  tangential  force  was  not  accordant  with  any  inductions  from 
actual  experience ;  and  was  incapable  of  direct  mechanical  realiza- 
tion. Extending  the  atomic  conception  of  matter  to  the  setherial 
medium  of  space,  he  concluded  by  urging  "the  importance  in  the 
adoption  of  mechanical  hypotheses,  of  conditioning  them  in  strict 
accordance  with  the  operations  of  matter  under  the  known  laws  of 
force  and  motion,  as  exhibited  in  time  and  space."  * 

Among  the  various  public  Addresses  delivered  by  Henry  on 
special  occasions,  reference  may  be  here  made  to  his  excellent  expo- 
sition of  the  nature  of  power,  and  the  functions  of  machinery 
as  its  vehicle,  —  concluding  with  a  sketch  of  the  progress  of  arty 
pronounced  at  the  close  of  the  Exhibition  of  the  Metropolitan 
Mechanics'  Institute,  in  Washington,  on  the  evening  of  March  1 9th, 
1853.  After  representing  to  his  hearers  the  close  physical  analogy 
between  the  human  body  as  a  moving  machine,  and  the  steam  loco- 
motive under  an  intelligent  engineer,  he  remarked:  "In  both,  the 
direction  of  power  is  under  the  influence  of  an  immaterial,  think- 
ing, willing  principle,  called  the  soul.  But  this  must  not  be  con- 
founded as  it  frequently  is  with  the  motive  power.  The  soul  of  a 
man  no  more  moves  his  body,  than  the  soul  of  the  engineer  moves 
the  locomotive  and  its  attendant  train  of  cars.  In  both  cases  the 
soul  is  the  directing,  controlling  principle;  not  the  impelling 
pOAver."  t 

Views  of  Education. — Another  address  deserving  of  special  notice 
(delivered  the  following  year,)  is  his  introductory  discourse  before 
the  "  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Education,"  as  its  retiring 
President.  In  this,  he  maintained  that  inasmuch  as  "the  several 
faculties  of  the  human  mind  are  not  simultaneously  developed,  in 
educating  an  individual  we  ought  to  follow  the  order  of  nature,  and 
to  adapt  the  instruction  to  the  age  and  mental  stature  of  the  pupil. 

*  Proceed.  Am.  Assoc.  Albany,  Aug.  1851,  pp.  84-91. 

t  Closing  Address  Metr.  Mech.  Inst.  Washington,  1853,  p.  19. 


324  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

Memory,  imitation,  imagination,  and  the  faculty  of  forming  mental 
habits,  exist  in  early  life,  while  the  judgment  and  the  reasoning 
powers  are  of  slower  growth."  Hence  less  attention  should  be 
given  to  the  development  of  the  reasoning  faculties,  than  to  those 
of  observation :  the  juvenile  memory  should  be  stored  rather  with 
facts,  than  with  principles:  and  he  condemned  as  mischievous  "the 
proposition  frequently  advanced,  that  the  child  should  be  taught 
nothing  but  what  he  can  fully  comprehend,  and  the  endeavor  in 
accordance  with  this,  to  invert  the  order  of  nature,  and  attempt  to 
impart  those  things  which  cannot  be  taught  at  an  early  age,  and  to 
neglect  those  which  at  this  period  of  life  the  mind  is  well  adapted 
to  receive.  By  this  mode  we  may  indeed  produce  remarkably 
intelligent  children,  who  will  become  remarkably  feeble  men.  The 
order  of  nature  is  that  of  art  before  science;  the  entire  concrete 
first,  and  the  entire  abstract  last.  These  two  extremes  should  run 
gradually  into  each  other,  the  course  of  instruction  becoming  more 
and  more  logical  as  the  pupil  advances  in  years." — "  The  cultiva- 
tion of  the  imagination  should  also  be  considered  an  essential  part 
of  a  liberal  education:  and  this  may  be  spread  over  the  whole 
course  of  instruction,  for  like  the  reasoning  faculties  the  imagination 
may  continue  to  be  improved  until  late  in  life." 

Applying  this  same  reasoning  to  the  moral  training  of  youth,  he 
considered  that  (as  in  the  intellectual  culture)  the  object  should  be 
"not  only  to  teach  the  pupil  how  to  think,  but  how  to  act  and  to  do; 
placing  great  stress  upon  the  early  education  of  the  habits.  -  -  - 
We  are  frequently  required  to  act  from  the  impulse  of  the  moment, 
and  have  no  time  to  deduce  our  course  from  the  moral  principles 
of  the  act.  An  individual  can  be  educated  to  a  strict  regard  for 
truth,  to  deeds  of  courage  in  rescuing  others  from  danger,  to  acts  of 
benevolence,  generosity,  and  justice.  -  -  The  future  character 

of  a  child  and  that  of  the  man  also,  is  in  most  cases  formed  prob- 
ably before  the  age  of  seven  years.  Previously  to  this  time 
impressions  have  been  made  which  shall  survive  amid  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  life,  amid  all  the  influences  to  which  the  individual  may 
be  subjected,  and  which  will  outcrop  as  it  were,  in  the  last  stage  of 
his  earthly  existence,  when  the  additions  to  his  character  made  in 
later  years,  have  been  entirely  swept  away."  Childhood  (he  inti- 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  325 

mated)  is  less  the  parent  of  manhood,  than  of  age :  the  special  vices 
of  the  individual  child  though  long  subdued,  sometimes  surviving 
and  re-appearing  in  his  "second  childhood." 

Affirming  that  culture  is  constraint, — education  and  direction  an 
expenditure  of  force,  and  extending  his  generalization  from  the 
individual  to  the  race,  he  controverted  the  idea  so  popular  with 
some  benevolent  enthusiasts,  that  there  is  a  spontaneous  tendency 
in  man  to  civilization  and  advancement.  The  origins  of  past 
civilizations  —  taking  a  comprehensive  glance  at  far  distant  human 
populations  —  have  been  sporadic  as  it  were,  and  their  prevalence 
comparatively  transitory.  "It  appears  therefore  that  civilization 
itself  may  be  considered  as  a  condition  of  unstable  equilibrium, 
which  requires  constant  effort  to  be  sustained,  and  a  still  greater 
effort  to  be  advanced.  It  is  not  in  my  view  the  '  manifest  destiny ' 
of  humanity  to  improve  by  the  operation  of  an  inevitable  necessary 
law  of  progress :  but  while  I  believe  that  it  is  the  design  of  Provi- 
dence that  man  should  be  improved,  this  improvement  must  be  the 
result  of  individual  effort,  or  of  the  combined  effort  of  many  indi- 
viduals animated  by  the  same  feeling  and  co-operating  for  the 
attainment  of  the  same  end.  -  -  -  If  we  sow  judiciously  in 
the  present,  the  world  will  assuredly  reap  a  beneficent  harvest  in 
the  future :  and  he  has  not  lived  in  vain,  who  leaves  behind  him  as 
his  successor,  a  child  better  educated — morally,  intellectually,  and 
physically,  than  himself.  From  this  point  of  view,  the  responsi- 
bilities of  life  are  immense.  Every  individual  by  his  example  and 
precept,  whether  intentionally  or  otherwise,  does  aid  or  oppose  this 
important  work,  and  leayes  an  impress  of  character  upon  the  suc- 
ceeding age,  which  is  to  mould  its  destiny  for  weal  or  woe,  in 
all  coming  time.  -  -  -  The  world  however  is  not  to  be 
advanced  by  the  mere  application  of  truths  already  known :  but  we 
look  forward  (particularly  in  physical  science)  to  the  effect  of  the 
development  of  new  principles.  We  have  scarcely  as  yet  read  more 
than  the  title-page  and  preface  of  the  great  volume  of  nature,  and 
what  we  do  know  is  as  nothing  in  comparison  with  that  which  may 
be  yet  unfolded  and  applied."  * 

*  Proceed.  Assoc.  Adv.  Education,  4th  Session,  Washington,  Dec.  28,  1854,  pp.  17-31. 
The  pregnant  thought  that  human  civilization  is  an  artificial  and  coerced  con- 
dition, would  seem  to  have  a  suggestive  bearing  on  the  two  great  theories  of 


326  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

Experiments  on  Building-Stone. — In  1854,  a  series  of  experiments 
on  the  strength  of  different  kinds  of  building-stone,  was  undertaken 
by  Henry  as  one  of  a  commission  appointed  by  the  President, 
having  reference  to  the  marbles  offered  for  the  extension  of  the 
United  States  Capitol.  Specimens  of  the  different  samples — accu- 
rately cut  to  cubical  blocks  one  inch  and  a  half  in  height,  were  first 
tried  by  interposing  a  thin  sheet  of  lead  above  and  below,  between 
the  block  and  the  steel  plates  of  the  crushing  dynamometer.  "  This 
was  in  accordance  with  a  plan  adopted  by  Rennie,  and  that  which 
appears  to  have  been  used  by  most  if  not  all  of  the  subsequent 
experimenters  in  researches  of  this  kind.  Some  doubt  however 
was  expressed  as  to  the  action  of  interposed  lead,  which  induced  a 
series  of  experiments  to  settle  this  question ;  when  the  remarkable 
fact  was  discovered  that  the  yielding  and  approximately  equable 
pressure  of  the  lead  caused  the  stone  to  give  way  at  about  half  the 
pressure  it  would  sustain  without  such  an  interposition.  For 
example,  one  of  the  cubes  precisely  similar  to  another  which  with- 
stood a  pressure  of  upwards  of  60,000  pounds  when  placed  in 
immediate  contact  with  the  steel  plates,  gave  way  at  about  30,000 
pounds  with  lead  interposed.  This  interesting  fact  was  verified  in 
a  series  of  experiments  embracing  samples  of  nearly  all  the  mar- 
bles under  trial,  and  in  no  case  did  a  single  exception  occur  to  vary 
the  result. 

"The  explanation  of  this  striking  phenomenon  (now  that  the 
fact  is  known)  is  not  difficult.  The  stone  tends  to  give  way  by 
bulging  out  in  the  centre  of  each  of  its  four  perpendicular  faces, 
and  to  form  two  pyramidal  figures  with  their  apices  opposed  to 
each  other  at  the  centre  of  the  cube,  and  their  bases  against  the 
steel  plates.  In  the  case  where  rigid  equable  pressure  is  employed, 
as  in  that  of  the  thick  steel  plate,  all  parts  must  give  way  together. 
But  in  that  of  a  yielding  equable  pressure  as  in  the  case  of  inter- 

development,  and  evolution,  so  generally  confounded  by  the  superficial.  What  may 
be  called  the  radical  difference  between  these  two  views  of  organic  extension,  is 
that  the  former  assumes  an  inherent  mysterious  tendency  to  progression,  whose 
motto  is  ever  "excelsior;"  while  the  latter  assumes  a  general  tendency  to  vari- 
ation within  moderate  limits  in  indefinite  directions;  so  that  elevation  is  no 
more  normal  than  degradation,  and  indeed  may  be  regarded  as  rarer  and  more 
exceptional,  since  at  every  upward  stage  attained  by  the  few,  there  are  probably 
more  further  digressions  downward  than  upward,  the  motto  being  ever  "aptior." 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  327 

posed  lead,  the  stone  first  gives  way  along  the  outer  lines  or  those 
of  least  resistance,  and  the  remaining  pressure  must  be  sustained  by 
the  central  portions  around  the  vertical  axis  of  the  cube.  After 
this  important  fact  was  clearly  determined,  lead  and  all  other  inter- 
posed substances  were  discarded,  and  a  method  devised  by  which  the 
upper  and  lower  surfaces  of  the  cube  could  be  ground  into  perfect 
parallelism.  -  -  -  All  the  specimens  tested  were  subjected  to 
this  process,  and  on  their  exposure  to  pressure  were  found  to  give 
concordant  results.  The  crushing  force  sustained  was  therefore 
much  greater  than  that  heretofore  given  for  the  same  material."  * 

In  the  same  communication,  interesting  remarks  are  made  on  the 
tensile  strength  of  materials,  particularly  the  metals.  "According 
to  the  views  presented,  the  difference  in  the  tenacity  in  steel  and 
lead  does  not  consist  in  the  attractive  cohesion  of  the  atoms,  but  in 
their  capability  of  slipping  upon  each  other:"  that  is  on  the  differ- 
ence of  lateral  adhesion  of  the  molecules,  as  exemplified  in  ice  and 
water.  A  bar  of  soft  metal — as  lead — subjected  to  tensile  strain, 
by  reason  of  the  greater  freedom  of  the  exterior  layers  of  mole- 
cules, exhibits  a  stretching  and  thinning;  while  the  interior  mole- 
cules being  more  confined  by  the  surrounding  pressure,  are  less 
mobile,  permit  less  elongation  of  the  mass,  and  are  therefore  the 
first  to  commence  breaking  apart.  Accordingly  on  ultimate  sepa- 
ration, each  fragment  exhibits  a  hollow  or  cup-like  surface  of 
fracture,  where  the  interior  portion  of  the  material  has  first  parted : 
the  depth  of  the  concavity  being  somewhat  proportioned  to  the 
malleability  or  ductility  of  the  substance.  "With  substances  of 
greater  rigidity,  this  effect  is  less  apparent,  but  it  exists  even  in 
iron,  and  the  interior  fibres  of  a  rod  of  this  metal  may  be  entirely 
separated,  while  the  outer  surface  presents  no  appearance  of  change. 
From  this  it  would  appear  that  metals  should  never  be  elongated 
by  mere  stretching,  but  in  all  cases  by  a  process  of  wire-drawing, 
or  rolling.  A  wire  or  bar  must  always  be  weakened  by  a  force 
which  permanently  increases  its  length  without  at  the  same  time 
compressing  it."  f 

*  Proceed.  Am.  Assoc.  Providence,  Aug.  1855,  pp.  102-112. 

fThis  conclusion  is  not  at  all  in  opposition  to  the  ascertained  fact  of  the 
increased  strength  imparted  to  an  iron  rod  by  "  thermo-tension,"  discovered  by 
Professor  WALTER  R.  JOHNSON,  in  1838.  (Journal  of  Franklin  Institute,  Oct.  1839,  vol. 
xxiv.  n.  s.  pp.  232-236.) 


328  MEMORIAL   OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

Hydrometric  Experiment. — A  novel  project  for  the  rectification 
of  spirits  by  the  simple  process  of  static  separation  of  the  alcohol 
and  water  by  the  stress  of  their  specific  gravities  when  exposed  in 
long  columns,  produced  in  1854  a  considerable  sensation.  It  was 
alleged  in  various  publications  by  those  interested  in  the  new  enter- 
prise, that  the  coercitive  compression  exerted  by  the  water  in  a 
long  hydrostatic  column  greatly  accelerated  the  displacement  and 
separation  induced  by  gravitation,  and  that  only  a  few  hours  were 
necessary  to  complete  the  process,  if  the  depth  of  the  liquid  were 
sufficiently  great.* 

A  patent  was  obtained :  affidavits  and  samples  fully  attested  the 
wonderful  efficiency  of  the  process;  and  only  the  co-operation  of 
confiding  capitalists  was  required,  to  realize  fabulous  profits,  and 
effect  a  manufacturing  and  commercial  revolution. 

Simply  in  the  interests  of  truth,  Henry  undertook  the  careful 
investigation  of  this  surprising  pretension.  One  of  the  towers  of 
the  Smithsonian  Building  supplied  a  convenient  well  for  the  experi- 
ment, easily  accessible  throughout  its  height.  "A  series  of  stout 
iron  tubes  of  about  an  inch  and  a  half  internal  diameter  formed 
the  column;  the  total  length  of  which  was  one  hundred  and  six 
feet.  Four  stop-cocks  were  provided ;  one  at  the  bottom,  one  about 
four  feet  from  the  top,  and  the  other  two  to  the  intermediate  space 
equally  divided  or  nearly  so."  Very  careful  hydrometer  and  ther- 
mometer registers  were  made  at  increasing  intervals  of  time,  the 
last  being  that  of  nearly  half  a  year:  a  portion  of  the  reserved 
liquor  being  simultaneously  tested.  The  result  stated,  is:  "There 
is  not  the  slightest  indication  of  any  difference  of  density  between 
the  original  liquor  and  that  from  the  top  or  bottom  of  the  column, 
after  the  lapse  of  hours,  days,  weeks,  or  months.  The  fluid  at  the 
bottom  of  the  tube  it  must  be  remembered  was  for  five  months 
exposed  to  the  pressure  of  a  column  of  fluid  at  least  one  hundred 
feet  high."  f 

*  An  incidental  remark  in  Gmelin's  "Handbook  of  Chemistry"  seemed  to  give 
some  color  of  plausibility  to  the  scheme.  "Brandy  kept  in  casks  is  said  to  con- 
tain a  greater  proportion  of  spirit  in  the  upper,  and  of  water  in  the  lower  part." 
Gmelin's  Handbook,  Translated  by  Henry  Watts,  London,  1841,  part  i.  sect.  4,— 
vol.  i.  p.  112. 

t  Proceed.  Am.  Assoc.  Providence,  Aug.  1855,  pp.  142, 143. 


DISCOURSE   OF  W.  B.  TAYL.OK.  329 

Sulphuric-acid  Barometer. — In  1856,  Henry  had  constructed  for 
the  Smithsonian  Institution,  at  the  suggestion  of  Professor  George 
C.  Schaeffer,  a  large  sulphuric-acid  barometer,  whose  column  being 
more  than  seven  times  the  height  of  the  mercurial  column  (about 
18 J  feet)  gave  correspondingly  enlarged  and  sensitive  indications. 
Water  barometers  with  cisterns  protected  by  oil,  (as  that  constructed 
by  Daniel  1  for  the  Royal  Society,)  have  always  proved  instable. 
With  reference  to  sulphuric  acid,  "The  advantages  of  this  liquid 
are:  1st  that  it  gives  off  no  appreciable  vapor  at  any  atmospheric 
temperature ;  and  2nd  that  it  does  not  absorb  or  transmit  air.  The 
objections  to  its  use  are:  1st  the  liability  to  accident  from  the  cor- 
rosive nature  of  the  liquid,  either  in  the  filling  of  the  tube  or  in  its 
subsequent  breakage;  and  2nd  its  affinity  for  moisture,  which  tends 
to  produce  a  change  in  specific  gravity."  The  latter  defect  was 
obviated  by  a  drying  apparatus  consisting  of  a  tubulated  bottle  con- 
taining chloride  of  calcium,  and  connected  by  a  tube  with  the  glass 
bottle  forming  the  reservoir,  which  excluded  all  moisture  from 
the  transmitted  air.  "The  glass  tube  [of  the  barometer]  is  two 
hundred  and  forty  inches  long,  and  three-fourths  of  an  inch  in 
diameter;  and  is  inclosed  in  a  cylindrical  brass  case  of  the  same 
length,  and  two  and  a  half  inches  in  diameter.  The  glass  tube  is 
secured  in  the  axis  of  the  brass  case  by  a  number  of  cork  collars, 
placed  at  intervals."  *  This  barometer  continued  in  successful  and 
satisfactory  use  for  many  years;  and  had  its  readings  constantly 
recorded. 

Of  several  of  Henry's  courses  of  experiments,  no  details  have 
been  published ;  and  his  original  notes  appear  to  have  perished. 
In  1861,  he  made  a  number  of  experiments  on  the  effects  of  burn- 
ing gunpowder  in  a  vacuum,  as  well  as  in  different  gases. 

"A  series  of  researches  was  also  commenced,  to  determine  more 
accurately  than  has  yet  been  done,  the  expansion  produced  in  a  bar 
of  iron  at  the  moment  of  magnetization  of  the  metal  by  means  of 
a  galvanic  current.  The  opportunity  was  taken  with  the  consent 
of  Professor  Bache,  of  making  these  experiments  with  the  delicate 
instruments  which  had  previously  been  employed  in  determining 

*  Proceed.  Am.  Assoc.  Albany,  Aug.  1856,  pp.  135-138. 


330  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

the  varying  length,  under  different  temperatures,  of  the  measuring 
apparatus  of  the  base  lines  of  the  United  States  Coast  Survey."  * 
This  wonderfully  microscopic  measuring  apparatus  —  devised  by 
Mr.  Joseph  Saxton,  was  capable  of  distinguishing  ( by  means  of  the 
light-ray  index  of  its  contact  reflector,)  a  dimension  equal  to  a  half 
wave-length  of  average  light,  or  the  100,000th  part  of  an  inch. 
The  long  under-ground  vaults  of  the  Smithsonian  building  having 
been  selected  as  a  suitable  place  for  the  precise  verification  of  the 
residual  co-efficient  of  compensated  temperature  expansion  of  the 
base  rods  of  the  Survey,  the  opportunity  was  seized  by  Henry,  at 
the  termination  of  the  investigation,  to  apply  the  same  delicate 
apparatus  to  the  determination  of  the  polarized  or  magnetic  expan- 
sion. The  results  of  these  delicate  and  interesting  investigations 
are  lost  to  the  world. 

In  less  than  six  years  from  the  time  of  these  researches,  he  was 
called  on  to  mourn  the  death  of  his  life-long  intimate  and  honored 
friend,  who  had  always  exhibited  so  brotherly  a  sympathy  and 
co-operation  with  his.  own  varied  labors.  In  consequence  of  this 
event — the  death  of  his  friend  Professor  A.  Dallas  Bache  in  1867, 
Henry  was  chosen  in  1868,  to  be  his  successor  as  President  of  the 
National  Academy  of  Sciences.  At  the  request  of  that  body,  he 
prepared  a  eulogy  of  his  friend  the  late  President,  which  was  read 
before  the  Academy  April  16th,  1869.  In  grateful  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  wise  counsels  and  valuable  services  of  Dr.  Bache  as  one 
of  the  Smithsonian  Regents,  he  observed:  "In  1846  he  had  been 
named  in  the  act  of  incorporation  as  one  of  the  Regents  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution,  and  by  successive  re-election  was  continued 
by  Congress  in  this  office  until  his  death,  a  period  of  nearly  twenty 
years.  To  say  that  he  assisted  in  shaping  the  policy  of  the  estab- 
lishment would  not  be  enough.  It  was  almost  exclusively  through 
his  predominating  influence  that  the  policy  which  has  given  the 
Institution  its  present  celebrity,  was  after  much  opposition  finally 
adopted.  -  -  -  Professor  Bache  with  persistent  firmness  tem- 
pered by  his  usual  moderation,  advocated  the  appropriation  of  the 
proceeds  of  the  funds  principally  to  the  plan  set  forth  in  the  first 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1861,  p.  38. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  331 

report  of  the  Secretary,  namely  of  encouraging  and  supporting 
original  research  in  the  different  branches  of  science.  -  -  -  It 
would  be  difficult  for  the  Secretary — however  unwilling  to  intrude 
anything  personal  on  this  occasion,  to  forbear  mentioning  that  it 
was  entirely  due  to  the  persuasive  influence  of  Professor  Bache,  that 
he  was  induced  —  almost  against  his  own  better  judgment,  to  leave 
the  quiet  pursuit  of  science  and  the  congenial  employment  of  col- 
lege instruction,  to  assume  the  laborious  and  responsible  duties  of 
the  office  to  which  through  the  partiality  of  friendship  he  had  been 
called.  Nor  would  it  be  possible  for  him  to  abstain  from  acknowl- 
edging with  heart-felt  emotion,  that  he  was  from  first  to  last  sup- 
ported and  sustained  in  his  difficult  position  by  the  fraternal 
sympathy,  the  prudent  counsel,  and  the  unwavering  friendship  of 
the  lamented  deceased."  * 

Many  minor  contributions  in  various  fields  of  scientific  observa- 
tion, must  here  be  omitted :  but  it  would  be  inexcusable,  in  this 
place  and  on  this  occasion,  to  neglect  a  reference  to  the  active  part 
he  took  in  the  organization  and  advancement  of  this  Society;  f  an(i 
the  unflagging  interest  ever  exhibited  in  its  proceedings,  from  the 
date  of  its  convocation,  March  13th,  1871,  to  that  of  his  last  illness. 
All  here,  remember  with  what  punctuality  he  attended  the  meet- 
jngS —  whether  of  the  executive  committee  or  of  the  society, 
undeterred  by  inclemencies  of  the  weather  which  often  kept  away 
many  much  younger  members.  All  here,  recall  with  what  unpre- 
tentious readiness  he  communicated  from  his  rich  stores  of  well- 
digested  facts,  observations — whether  initiatory  or  supplementary, 
on  almost  every  topic  presented  to  our  notice;  how  apt  his  illustra- 
tions and  suggestions  in  our  spontaneous  discussions ;  and  with  what 
unfailing  interest  we  ever  listened  to  his  words  of  exposition ,  of 
knowledge,  and  of  wisdom :  utterances  which  we  shall  never  hear 
again ;  and  which  unwritten  and  unrecorded,  have  not  been  even 
reported  in  an  abstract. 

*  Biographical  Memoirs,  Nat.  Acad.  Set.  vol.  i.  pp.  181-212.  Republished  in  the 
Smithsonian  Report  for  1870,  pp.  91-116.  The  father  of  Professor  BACHE— Richard 
Bache,  was  a  son  of  the  only  daughter  of  the  illustrious  BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN. 

fThe  Philosophical  Society  of  Washington. 


332  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

Range  of  information.  —  It  was  not  alone  in  those  physical 
branches  of  knowledge  to  which  he  had  made  direct  original  con- 
tributions, that  the  mental  activities  of  Henry  were  familiarly 
exercised  and  conspicuously  exhibited.  There  was  scarcely  a 
department  of  intellectual  pursuit  in  which  he  did  not  feel  and 
manifest  a  sympathetic  interest,  and  in  which  he  did  not  follow  with 
appreciative  grasp  its  leading  generalizations.  Holding  ever  to  the 
unity  of  Nature  as  the  expression  and  most  direct  illustration  of  the 
Unity  of  its  Author,  he  believed  that  every  new  fact  discovered  in 
any  of  nature's  fields,  would  ultimately  be  found  to  be  in  intimate 
correlation  with  the  laws  prevailing  in  other  fields — seemingly  the 
most  distant.  *  To  his  large  comprehension,  nothing  was  insignifi- 
cant, or  unworthy  of  consideration.  He  ever  sought  however  to 
look  beyond  the  ascertained  and  isolated  or  classified  fact,  to  its 
antecedent  cause;  and  in  opposition  to  the  dogma  of  Comte,  he 
averred  that  the  knowledge  of  facts  is  not  science,  —  that  these  are 
merely  the  materials  from  which  its  temple  is  constructed  by  the 
generalizations  of  sagacious  and  attested  speculation. 

Among  his  earlier  studies,  Chemistry  occupied  a  prominent  place. 
The  youthful  assistant  in  the  laboratory  of  his  former  Instructor 
and  ever  honored  friend,  Dr.  T.  Romeyn  Beck,  and  later,  himself 
a  teacher  of  the  art  and  knowledge  to  others,  a  skillful  manipulator, 
an  acute  analyst  and  investigator  of  re-actions,  he  seemed  at  first 
destined  to  become  a  leader  in  chemical  research.  Like  Newton, 
he  endeavored  to  bring  the  atomic  combinations  under  the  concep- 
tion of  physical  laws;  believing  this  essential  to  the  development 
of  chemistry  as  a  true  science.  He  always  kept  himself  well- 
informed  on  the  progress  of  the  more  recent  doctrines  of  quantiva- 
lence,  and  the  newer  system  of  nomenclature. 

He  had  also  paid  considerable  attention  to  geology;  with  its 
relations  to  palaeontology  on  the  one  side,  and  to  physical  geography 
on  the  other. 


*"A  proper  view  of  the  relation  of  science  and  art  will  enable  him  [the 
reader]  to  see  that  the  one  is  dependent  on  the  other;  and  that  each  branch  of 
the  study  of  nature  is  intimately  connected  with  every  other."  (Agricultural 
Report  for  1857,  p.  419.)  "The  statement  cannot  be  too  often  repeated,  that  each 
branch  of  knowledge  is  connected  with  every  other,  and  that  no  light  can  be 
gained  in  regard  to  one,  which  is  not  reflected  upon  all."  (Smithsonian  Report 
for  1859,  p.  15.) 


DISCOURSE   OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  333 

As  intimated  in  touching  upon  the  stimulus  given  to  "archae- 
ological work"  by  the  Smithsonian  publications,  (ante,  p.  290,) 
Henry  ever  displayed  a  warm  sympathy  with  researches  in  Anthro- 
pology;  and  he  would  pleasantly  justify  this  partiality  by  repeating 
the  familiar  "homo  sum"  of  Terence."  A  student  of  the  "com- 
parative anatomy"  of  ethnology, —  of  the  obscure  but  cumulative 
traces  of  a  remote  human  ancestry, —  and  of  the  curious  relics  of 
social,  civil,  and  religious  customs,  apparently  derived  from  distant 
or  from  vanished  races,  he  amassed  a  fund  of  well-digested  informa- 
tion in  these  alluring  fields,  to  be  appreciated  only  by  the  specialist 
in  such  pursuits. 

Familiar  with  the  details  —  as  well  of  astronomical  observation 
as  of  the  mathematical  processes  of  reduction,  he  would  have  done 
honor  to  any  Observatory  placed  under  his  charge.  He  was  lenient 
in  his  judgment  of  the  ancient  star- worshippers ;  and  was  always 
greatly  attracted  by  astronomical  discoveries.  As  already  men- 
tioned (ante,  p.  239,)  he  delivered  in  1834,  a  course  of  Lectures  on 
Astronomy. 

Well  read  in  the  science  of  Political  Economy,  he  had  by  obser- 
vation and  analysis  of  human  nature,  made  its  inductive  principles 
his  own,  and  had  satisfied  himself  that  its  deductions  were  fully 
confirmed  by  an  intelligent  appreciation  of  the  teachings  of  finan- 
cial history.  He  attributed  the  lamentable  disregard  of  its  funda- 
mental doctrines,  by  many  of  our  so-called  legislators,  to  a  want  of 
scientific  training,  and  consequent  want  of  perception  and  of  faith 
in  the  dominion  and  autonomy  of  natural  law. 

A  good  linguist,  he  watched  with  appreciative  interest  the  prog- 
ress of  comparative  philology,  and  the  ethnologic  significance  of  its 
generalizations,  in  tracing  out  the  affiliations  of  European  nations. 
By  no  means  neglectful  of  lighter  literature,  he  enjoyed  at  leisure 
evenings,  in  the  bosom  of  his  cultivated  family,  the  readings  of 
modern  writers,  and  the  suggestive  interchange  of  sentiment  and 
criticism.  Striking  passages  of  poetry  made  a  strong  impression 
on  his  retentive  memory;  and  it  was  not  unusual  to  hear  him 
embellish  some  graver  fact,  in  conversation,  with  an  unexpected  but 
most  apt  quotation.  With  a  fine  aesthetic  feeling,  his  appreciation 
and  judgment  of  works  of  art,  were  delicate  and  discriminating. 


334  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

Among  the  subjects  to  which  he  had  given  a  close  and  critical 
attention,  was  the  attractive  field  of  Architecture,  both  in  its  his- 
torical development  as  a  Fine-art — symbolizing  devotional  senti- 
ment, and  in  its  later  manifestations  as  the  application  of  antique 
and  eclectic  forms  of  ornamentation  to  utilitarian  structures.  His 
very  admiration  of  ancient  classic  and  gothic  art,  made  him  intoler- 
ant of  the  servile  reproduction  of  Temple  and  Cathedral  styles 
for  purposes  and  uses  to  which  they  were  wholly  unsuited.*  And 
he  was  severe  in  his  criticisms  on  the  too  frequent  practice  of 
wasting  a  large  portion  of  the  funds  bequeathed  to  scientific,  edu- 
cational, or  charitable  purposes,  on  showy  and  pretentious  piles, 
(the  inspiration  and  the  monument  of  an  ambitious  architect,)  to 
the  permanent  spoliation  and  restriction  of  the  endowment  intended 
for  intellectual  and  moral  ends. 

The  Reign  of  Law. —  Henry  held  very  broad  and  decided  views 
as  to  the  reign  of  order  in  the  Cosmos.  Defining  science  as  the 
"knowledge  of  natural  law,"  and  law,  as  the  "will  of  God,"  he 
was  always  accustomed  to  regard  that  orderly  sequence  called  the 
"law,"  as  being  fixed  and  immutable  as  the  omniscient  providence  of 
its  Divine  Author :  admitting  in  no  case  caprice  or  variableness :  and 
he  would  quote  with  expressive  emphasis,  Halley's  classic  lines, 

"  Quas  dum  primordia  rerum 

Pangeret  Omniparens  leges  violare  Creator 
Noluit,  seternique  operis  fundamina  fixit." 

*  "The  Greek  architect  was  untrammelled  by  any  condition  of  utility.  Archi- 
tecture was  with  him  in  reality  a  fine-art.  The  temple  was  formed  to  gratify  the 
tutelar  deity.  Its  minutest  parts  were  exquisitely  finished,  since  nothing  but 
perfection  on  all  sides  and  in  the  smallest  particulars,  could  satisfy  an  all-seeing 
and  critical  eye.  It  was  intended  for  external  worship,  and  not  for  internal 
use.  -  -  -  The  uses  therefore  to  which  in  modern  times,  buildings  of  this  kind 
can  be  applied,  are  exceedingly  few.  -  -  -  Modern  architecture  is  not  like 
painting  or  sculpture,  a  'fine-art'  par  excellence:  the  object  of  these  latter  is  to 
produce  a  moral  emotion,  to  awaken  the  feelings  of  the  sublime  and  the  beau- 
tiful: and  we  egregiously  err  when  we  apply  these  productions,  to  a  merely 
utilitarian  purpose.  To  make  a  fire-screen  of  Rubens'  Madonna,  or  a  candela- 
brum of  the  statue  of  the  Apollo  Belvidere,  would  be  to  debase  these  exquisite 
productions  of  genius,  and  do  violence  to  the  feelings  of  the  cultivated  lover  of 
art.  Modern  buildings  are  made  for  other  purposes  than  artistic  effect,  and  in 
them  the  sesthetical  must  be  subordinate  to  the  useful;  though  the  two  may 
co-exist,  and  an  intellectual  pleasure  be  derived  from  a  sense  of  adaptation  and 
fitness,  combined  with  a  perception  of  harmony  of  parts,  and  the  beauty  of 
detail.  The  buildings  of  a  country  and  an  age  should  be  an  ethnological  expres- 
sion of  the  wants,  habits,  arts,  and  sentiments  of  the  time  in  which  they  were 
erected."  (Proceed.  Am.  Assoc.  at  Albany,  Aug.  1856,  part  i.  pp.  120,  121,  and  SmitJv- 
sonian  Report  for  1856,  p.  222.) 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  335 

The  doctrine  of  the  absolute  dominion  of  law  —  so  oppressive 
and  alarming  to  many  excellent  minds,  was  to  him  accordingly  but 
a  necessary  deduction  from  his  theologic  and  religious  faith. 

The  series  of  meteorological  essays  already  referred  to  as  con- 
tributed to  the  Agricultural  Reports  of  the  Commissioner  of  Pat- 
ents, (ante,  p.  290,)  commences  with  this  striking  passage:  "All  the 
changes  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  and  all  the  movements  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  are  the  immediate  results  of  natural  forces  acting 
in  accordance  with  established  and  invariable  laws ;  and  it  is  only 
by  that  precise  knowledge  of  these  laws,  which  is  properly  denomi- 
nated science,  that  man  is  enabled  to  defend  himself  against  the 
adverse  operations  of  Nature,  or  to  direct  her  innate  powers  in 
accordance  with  his  will.  At  first  sight,  it  might  appear  that 
meteorology  was  an  exception  to  this  general  proposition,  and  that 
the  changes  of  the  weather  and  the  peculiarities  of  climate  in  differ- 
ent portions  of  the  earth's  surface,  were  of  all  things  the  most 
uncertain  and  farthest  removed  from  the  dominion  of  law:  but 
scientific  investigation  establishes  the  fact  that  no  phenomenon  is 
the  result  of  accident,  or  even  of  fitful  volition.  The  modern 
science  of  statistics  has  revealed  a  permanency  and  an  order  in  the 
occurrence  of  events  depending  on  conditions  in  which  nothing  of 
this  kind  could  have  been  supposed.  Even  those  occurrences 
which  seem  to  be  left  to  the  free  will,  the  passion,  or  the  greater  or 
less  intelligence  of  men,  are  under  the  control  of  laws  —  fixed, 
immutable,  and  eternal."  And  after  dwelling  on  the  developments 
and  significance  of  moral  statistics,  he  adds :  "  The  astonishing  facts 
of  this  class  lead  us  inevitably  to  the  conclusion  that  all  events  are 
governed  by  a  Supreme  Intelligence  who  knows  no  change;  and 
that  under  the  same  conditions,  the  same  results  are  invariably 
produced."  * 

Organic  Dynamics. —  The  contemplation  of  these  uniformities 
leads  naturally  to  the  great  modern  generalization  of  the  correlation 
of  all  the  working  energies  of  nature :  and  this  to  the  subject  of 
organic  dynamics.  "  Modern  science  has  established  by  a  wide  and 
careful  induction,  the  fact  that  plants  and  animals  consist  princi- 

*  Agricultural  Report  Com.  Pat.  for  1855,  pp.  &57, 358. 


336  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

pally  of  solidified  air;  the  only  portions  of  an  earthy  character 
which  enter  into  their  composition,  being  the  ashes  that  remain 
after  combustion."  Some  ten  years  before  this,  or  in  1844,  (as 
already  noticed  in  an  earlier  part  of  this  memoir, —  ante,  p.  273,) 
Henry  had  very  clearly  indicated  the  correlation  between  the  forces 
exhibited  by  inorganic  arid  organic  bodies :  arguing  that  from  the 
chemical  researches  of  Liebig,  Durnas,  and  Boussingault,  "it  would 
appear  to  follow  that  animal  power  is  referable  to  the  same  sources 
as  that  from  the  combustion  of  fuel:"  *  probably  the  earliest  explicit 
announcement  of  the  now  accepted  view.  In  the  series  of  agricul- 
tural essays  above  referred  to,  he  endeavored  to  frame  more  defi- 
nitely a  chemico-physical  theory  by  which  the  elevation  of  matter 
to  an  organic  combination  in  a  higher  state  of  power  than  its  source, 
might  be  accounted  for.  Regarding  "vitality"  not  as  a  mechanical 
force,  but  as  an  inscrutable  directing  principle  resident  in  the 
minute  germ  —  supposed  to  be  vegetative,  and  inclosed  in  a  sac  of 
starch  or  other  organic  nutriment,  he  considered  the  case  of  such 
provisioned  germ  (a  bean  or  a  potato  for  instance)  embedded  in  the 
soil,  supplied  with  a  suitable  amount  of  warmth  and  moisture  to 
give  the  necessary  molecular  mobility,  soon  sending  a  rootlet  down- 
ward into  the  earth,  and  raising  a  stem  toward  the  surface,  fur- 
nished with  incipient  leaves.  Supposing  the  planted  germ  to  be  a 
potato,  on  examination  we  should  find  its  large  supply  of  starch 
exhausted,  and  beyond  the  young  plant,  nothing  remaining  but  the 
skin,  containing  probably  a  little  water.  What  has  become  of  the 
starch?  "If  we  examine  the  soil  which  surrounded  the  potato,  we 
do  not  find  that  the  starch  has  been  absorbed  by  it ;  and  the  answer 
which  will  therefore  naturally  be  suggested,  is  that  it  has  been  trans- 
formed into  the  material  of  the  new  plant,  and  it  was  for  this  pur- 
pose originally  stored  away.  But  this  though  in  part  correct,  is 
not  the  whole  truth :  for  if  we  weigh  a  potato  prior  to  germination, 
and  weigh  the  young  plant  afterward,  wre  shall  find  that  the  amount 

*  Proceed.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  Dec.  1844,  vol.  iv.  p.  129.  The  admirable  treatise  of 
Dr.  JULIUS  R.  MAYEK  of  Heilbronn,  on  "Organic  Movement  in  its  relation  to 
material  changes,"  in  which  for  the  first  time  he  maintained  the  thesis  that  all 
the  energies  developed  by  animal  or  vegetable  organisms,  result  from  internal 
changes  having  their  dynamic  source  in  external  forces,  was  published  the  fol- 
lowing year,  or  in  1845.  RUMFOKD  nearly  half  a  century  earlier,  had  a  partial 
grasp  of  the  same  truth.  (Phil.  Trans.  R.  S.  Jan.  25,  1798,  vol.  Ixxxviii.  pp.  80-102.) 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  337 

of  organic  matter  contained  in  the  latter,  is  but  a  fraction  of  that 
which  was  originally  contained  in  the  former.  We  can  account  in 
this  way  for  the  disappearance  of  a  part  of  the  contents  of  the  sac, 
which  has  evidently  formed  the  pabulum  of  the  young  plant.  But 
here  we  may  stop  to  ask  another  question :  By  what  power  was  the 
young  plant  built  up  of  the  molecules  of  starch?  The  answer 
would  probably  be,  by  the  exertion  of  the  vital  force :  but  we  have 
endeavored  to  show  that  vitality  is  a  directing  principle,  and  not  a 
mechanical  power,  the  expenditure  of  which  does  work.  The  con- 
clusion to  which  we  would  arrive  will  probably  now  be  anticipated. 
The  portion  of  the  organic  molecules  of  the  starch,  <fec.  of  the 
tuber,  as  yet  unnaccounted  for,  has  run  down  into  inorganic  matter, 
or  has  entered  again  into  combination  with  the  oxygen  of  the  air, 
and  in  this  running  down  and  union  with  oxygen,  has  evolved  the 
power  necessary  to  the  organization  of  the  new  plant.  -  -  -  We 
see  from  this  view  that  the  starch  and  nitrogenous  materials  in 
which  the  germs  of  plants  are  imbedded,  have  two  functions  to 
fulfill,  the  one  to  supply  the  pabulum  of  the  new  plant,  and  the 
other  to  furnish  the  power  by  which  the  transformation  is  effected, 
the  latter  being  as  essential  as  the  former.  In  the  erection  of  a 
house,  the  application  of  mechanical  power  is  required  as  much  as 
a  supply  of  ponderable  materials."  * 

The  less  difficult  problem  of  the  building  up  of  the  plant  after 
the  consumption  of  the  seed,  under  the  direct  action  of  the  solar 
rays,  is  then  considered;  the  leaves  of  the  young  plant  absorbing 
by  their  moisture  carbonic  acid  from  the  atmosphere,  which  being 
decomposed  by  solar  actinism,  yields  the  de-oxidized  carbon  to  enter 

*  Agricultural  Report,  for  1857,  pp.  440-444.  In  May,  1842,  Dr.  JULIUS  R.  MAYER 
published  in  Liebig's  Annalen  der  Chemie  etc.  his  first  remarkable  paper  on 
"The  Forces  of  Inorganic  Nature,"  constituting  the  earliest  scientific  enunciation 
of  the  correlation  of  the  physical  forces ;  and  (if  we  except  the  work  of  SEGUIN  in 
1839,)  of  the  mechanical  equivalent  of  heat.  (Annalen  u.s.w.  vol.  xlii.  pp.  233-240.) 
In  September,  1849,  Dr.  R.  FOWLER  read  a  short  paper  before  the  British  Asso- 
ciation at  Birmingham,  on  "Vitality  as  a  Force  correlated  with  the  Physical 
Forces."  (Report  Brit.  Assoc.  1849,  part  ii.  pp.  77,  78.)  In  June,  1850,  Dr.  "W.  B.  CAR- 
PENTER presented  to  the  Royal  Society  a  much  fuller  memoir  "  On  the  Mutual 
Relations  of  the  Vital  and  Physical  Forces."  (Phil.  Trans.  R.  8.  vol.  cxl.  pp. 
727-757.)  Neither  of  these  essays  accounts  for  the  amount  of  building  energy  dis- 
played in  the  development  of  the  seed,  under  conditions  of  low  and  diffused 
heat:  and  the  expression  "Vital  Force"  used  both  by  FOWLER  and  CARPENTER, 
was  studiously  avoided  by  HENRY. 

22 


338  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

into  the  structure  of  the  organism.  "All  the  material  of  which  a 
tree  is  built  up,  (with  the  exception  of  that  comparatively  small 
portion  which  remains  after  it  has  been  burnt,  and  constitutes  the 
ash,)  is  derived  from  the  atmosphere.  In  the  decomposition  of  the 
carbonic  acid  by  the  chemical  ray,  a  definite  amount  of  power  is 
expended,  and  this  remains  as  it  were  locked  up  in  the  plant  so  long 
as  it  continues  to  grow."  And  thus  under  the  expenditure  of  an 
external  force,  the  plant  (whether  the  annual  cellular  herb  or  the 
perennial  fibrous  tree)  was  shown  to  be  built  up  from  the  simpler 
stable  binary  compounds  of  the  inorganic  world  to  the  more  com- 
plex and  unstable  ternary  compounds  of  the  vegetable  world.  "In 
the  germination  of  the  plant,  a  part  of  the  organized  molecules 
runs  down  into  carbonic  acid  to  furnish  power  for  the  new  arrange- 
ment of  the  other  portion.  In  this  process  no  extraneous  force  is 
required :  the  seed  contains .  within  itself  the  power,  and  the 
material,  for  the  growth  of  the  new  plant  up  to  a  certain  stage 
of  its  development.  Germination  can  therefore  be  carried  on 
in  the  dark,  and  indeed  the  chemical  ray  which  accompanies  light 
retards  rather  than  accelerates  the  process."  This  important 
organic  principle  appears  to  receive  in  these  passages  its  earliest 
enunciation. 

It  was  also  pointed  out  that  on  the  completion  of  the  cycle  of 
growth  (however  brief  or  however  extended),  the  decay  of  the 
plant  not  only  returns  the  elevated  matter  to  its  original  lower 
plane,  but  equally  returns  the  entire  amount  of  heat  energy 
absorbed  in  its  elevation :  an  amount  precisely  the  same,  whether 
the  slow  oxidation  be  continued  through  a  series  of  years,  or  a 
rapid  combustion  be  completed  in  as  many  minutes.  "The  power 
which  is  given  out  in  the  whole  descent  is  according  to  the  dynamic 
theory,  just  equivalent  to  the  power  expended  by  the  impulse  from 
the  sun  in  elevating  the  atoms  to  the  unstable  condition  of  the 
organic  molecules.  If  this  power  is  given  out  in  the  form  of 
vibrations  of  the  setherial  medium  constituting  heat,  it  will  not  be 
appreciable  in  the  ordinary  decay  say  of  a  tree,  extending  as  it  may 
through  several  years:  but  if  the  process  be  rapid,  as  in  case  of 
combustion  of  wood,  then  the  same  amount  of  power  will  be  given 
out  in  the  energetic  form  of  heat  of  high  intensity." 


DISCOURSE   OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  339 

The  elevation  of  inorganic  matter  (carbonic  acid,  water,  and 
ammonia,)  to  the  vegetable  plane  of  power,  introduces  naturally 
the  consideration  of  the  still  higher  elevation  of  vegetable  organic 
matter  to  the  animal  plane  of  power.  "As  in  the  case  of  the  seed 
of  the  plant,  we  presume  that  the  germ  of  the  future  animal  pre- 
exists in  the  egg;  and  that  by  subjecting  the  mass  to  a  degree  of 
temperature  sufficient  perhaps  to  give  greater  mobility  to  the  mole- 
cules, a  process  similar  in  its  general  effect  to  that  of  the  germi- 
nation of  the  seeds  commences.  -  -  -  During  this  process, 
power  is  evolved  within  the  shell,  we  cannot  say  in  the  present  state 
of  science  under  what  particular  form ;  but  we  are  irresistibly  con- 
strained to  believe  that  it  is  expended  under  the  direction  again  of 
the  vital  principle,  in  re-arranging  the  organic  molecules,  in  build- 
ing up  the  complex  machinery  of  the  future  animal,  or  developing 
a  still  higher  organization,  connected  with  which  are  the  mysterious 
manifestations  of  thought  and  volition.  In  this  case  as  in  that  of 
the  potato,  the  young  animal  as  it  escapes  from  the  shell,  weighs 
less  than  the  material  of  the  egg  previous  to  the  process  of  incu- 
bation. The  lost  material  in  this  case  as  in  the  other,  has  run  down 
into  an  inorganic  condition  by  combining  with  oxygen,  and  in  its 
descent  has  developed  the  power  to  effect  the  transformation  we 
have  just  described."  The  consumption  of  internal  power  does  not 
however  stop  with  the  development  of  the  young  animal,  as  it  does 
in  the  case  of  the  young  plant.  "The  young  animal  is  in  an 
entirely  different  condition :  exposure  to  the  light  of  the  sun  is  not 
necessary  to  its  growth  or  its  existence:  the  chemical  ray  by 
impinging  on  the  surface  of  its  body  does  not  decompose  the  car- 
bonic acid  which  may  surround  it,  the  conditions  necessary  for  this 
decomposition,  not  being  present.  It  has  no  means  by  itself  to 
elaborate  organic  molecules ;  and  is  indebted  for  these  entirely  to  its 
food.  It  is  necessary  therefore  that  it  should  be  supplied  with  food 
consisting  of  organized  materials;  that  is  of  complex  molecules  in 
a  state  of  power.  -  -  -  The  power  of  the  living  animal  is 
immediately  derived  from  the  running  down  of  the  complex  organ- 
ized molecules  of  which  the  body  is  formed,  into  their  ultimate 
combination  with  oxygen,  in  the  form  of  carbonic  acid  and  water, 
and  into  ammonia.  Hence  oxygen  is  constantly  drawn  into  the 


340  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

lungs,  and  carbon  is  constantly  evolved.     -  The  animal  is 

a  curiously  contrived  arrangement  for  burning  carbon  and  hydro- 
gen, and  for  the  evolution  and  application  of  power.  A  machine 
is  an  instrument  for  the  application  of  power,  and  not  for  its  crea- 
tion. The  animal  body  is  a  structure  of  this  character.  - 
A  comparison  has  been  made  between  the  work  which  can  be  done 
by  burning  a  given  amount  of  carbon  in  the  machine — man,  and 
an  equal  amount  in  the  machine — steam-engine.  The  result 
derived  from  an  analysis  of  the  food  in  one  case,  and  the  weight  of 
the  fuel  in  the  other,  and  these  compared  with  the  quantity  of 
water  raised  by  each  to  a  known  elevation,  gives  the  relative  work- 
ing value  of  the  two  machines.  From  this  comparison,  made  from 
experiments  on  soldiers  in  Germany  and  France,  it  is  found  that 
the  human  machine  in  consuming  the  same  amount  of  carbon,  does 
four  and  a  half  times  the  amount  of  work  of  the  best  Cornish 
engine.  -  -  - 

"There  is  however  one  striking  difference  between  the  animal 
body  and  the  locomotive  machine,  which  deserves  our  special  atten- 
tion ;  namely  the  power  in  the  body  is  constantly  evolved  by  burn- 
ing (as  it  were,)  parts  of  the  materials  of  the  machine  itself;  as  if 
the  frame  and  other  portions  of  the  wood-work  of  the  locomotive 
were  burnt  to  produce  the  power,  and  then  immediately  renewed. 
The  voluntary  motion  of  our  organs  of  speech,  of  our  hands,  of 
our  feet,  and  of  every  muscle  in  the  body,  is  produced  not  at  the 
expense  of  the  soul  but  at  that  of  the  material  of  the  body  itself. 
Every  motion  manifesting  life  in  the  individual,  is  the  result  of 
power  derived  from  the  death  as  it  were  of  a  part  of  his  body. 
We  are  thus  constantly  renewed  and  constantly  consumed;  and  in 
this  consumption  and  renewal  consists  animal  life."  * 

Seven  years  after  the  publication  of  this  highly  original  and  sug- 
gestive exposition,  (whose  topics  and  line  of  discussion  had  been 

*  Agricultural  Report  for  1857,  pp.  445-449.  This  important  essay  it  will  be 
observed,  antedates  Prof.  JOSEPH  LE  CONTE'S  paper  "On  the  Correlation  of  Physi- 
cal, Chemical,  and  Vital  Force,"  read  before  the  American  Association  at  Spring- 
field, Aug.  1859,  (Proceed.  Am.  Assoc.  pp.  187-203:  and  Sill.  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  Nov. 
1859,  vol.  xxviii.  pp.  305-319,)  as  well  as  Dr.  CARPENTER'S  second  and  more  mature 
paper  "On  the  application  of  the  Principle  of  Conservation  of  Force  to  Physi- 
ology," published  in  Crookes'  Quarterly  Journal  of  Science,  for  Jan.  and  April, 
1864,  (vol.  i.  pp.  76-87 ;  and  pp.  259-267.) 


DISCOURSE   OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  341 

distinctly  formulated  and  sketched  out  more  than  two  years  before, 
at  the  commencement  of  the  series  in  1855,)  the  eminent  physiolo- 
gist Dr.  Carpenter  produced  his  valuable  memoir  on  the  Conserva- 
tion of  Force  in  Physiology;  in  which  for  the  first  time  he  dis- 
tinctly affirms  the  development  of  vegetative  reproductive  energy, 
by  the  partial  running  down  of  matter  to  its  stabler  compounds, — 
"  by  the  retrograde  metamorphosis  of  a  portion  of  the  organic  com- 
pounds prepared  by  the  previous  nutritive  operations:"  and  also 
the  ultimate  return  by  decay,  of  the  whole  amount  of  force  as  well 
as  of  matter,  temporarily  borrowed  from  nature's  store.  Likewise 
with  animal  powers,  "  these  forces  are  developed  by  the  retrograde 
metamorphosis  of  the  organic  compounds  generated  by  the  instru- 
mentality of  the  plant,  whereby  they  ultimately  return  to  the  simple 
binary  forms  (water,  carbonic  acid,  and  ammonia,)  which  serve  as 
the  essential  food  of  vegetables.  -  -  Whilst  the  vegetable  is 

constantly  engaged  (so  to  speak)  in  raising  its  component  materials 
from  a  lower  plane  to  the  higher,  by  means  of  the  power  which  it 
draws  from  the  solar  rays, —  the  animal  whilst  raising  one  portion 
of  these  to  a  still  higher  level  by  the  descent  of  another  portion  to 
a  lower,  ultimately  lets  down  the  whole  of  what  the  plant  had 
raised."  *  So  little  was  Henry's  earlier  paper  known  abroad,  that 
his  name  does  not  occur  in  Dr.  Carpenter's  dissertation. 

Derivation  of  Species. —  With  regard  to  the  great  biologic  ques- 
tion of  the  past  fifteen  years  -. —  the  affiliation  of  specific  forms,  it 
was  impossible  that  Henry  should  remain  an  unconcerned  observer. 
Brought  up  (as  it  may  be  said)  in  the  school  of  Cuvier,  but  slightly 
impressed  with  the  brilliant  previsions  of  his  competitor,  Geoffrey 
Saint  Hilaire,  accustomed  to  look  upon  the  recurrent  hypotheses  of 
automatic  development  as  barren  speculations,  and  beside  all  this, 
ever  the  warmly  attached  personal  friend  of  Agassiz,  he  approached 
the  consideration  of  this  controverted  subject,  certainly  with  no 
antecedent  affirmative  pre-possessions.  His  general  acquaintance 
with  the  ascertained  facts  of  the  metamorphic  development  of  the 
individual  organism  from  its  origin,  as  well  as  with  the  remarkable 
analogies  and  homologies  disclosed  by  the  sciences  of  comparative 

*  Quart.  Jour.  Sci.  1864,  vol.  i.  pp.  87  and  267. 


342  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

physiology  and  embryology,  served  however  in  some  measure  to 
prepare  his  mind  to  apprehend  the  significance  of  the  indications 
which  had  been  so  industriously  collected,  and  so  intelligently 
collated:  and  from  the  very  first,  he  accepted  the  problem  as  a 
purely  philosophical  one;  employing  that  much  abused  term  in  no 
restricted  sense.  With  no  more  reserve  in  the  expression  of  his 
views,  than  the  avoidance  of  unprofitable  controversies,  (though  no 
one  more  than  he  —  enjoyed  the  calm  and  purely  intellectual  dis- 
cussion of  an  unsettled  question  by  its  real  experts,)  he  yet  found 
no  occasion  to  write  upon  the  subject.  The  unpublished  opinions 
however,  of  one  so  wise  and  eminent,  cannot  be  a  matter  of  indiffer- 
ence to  the  student  of  nature ;  and  their  exposition  cannot  but  assist 
to  enlighten  our  estimate  of  the  mental  stature  of  the  man,  and  of 
his  breadth  of  apprehension  and  toleration. 

Whatever  may  be  the  ultimate  fate  of  the  theory  of  natural 
selection,  (he  remarked  in  the  freedom  of  oral  intercourse  with 
several  naturalists,)  it  at  least  marks  an  epoch,  —  the  first  elevation 
of  natural  history  (so-called)  to  the  really  scientific  stage:  it  is 
based  on  induction,  and  correlates  a  large  range  of  apparently  dis- 
connected observations,  gathered  from  the  regions  of  paleontology 
or  geological  successions  of  organisms,  their  geographical  distribu- 
tion, climatic  adaptations  and  remarkable  re-adjustments,  their 
comparative  anatomy,  and  even  the  occurrence  of  abnormal  varia- 
tions, and  of  rudimentary  structures — seemingly  so  uselessly  dis- 
played as  mere  simulations  of  a  "  type/7  It  forms  a  good  "  working 
hypothesis"  for  directing  the  investigations  of  the  botanist  and 
zoologist.*  Natural  selection  indeed — no  less  than  artificial,  (he 
was  accustomed  to  say,)  is  to  a  limited  extent  a  fact  of  observation ; 
and  the  practical  question  is  to  determine  approximately  its  reach 
of  application,  and  its  sufficiency  as  an  actual  agency,  to  embrace 
larger  series  of  organic  changes  lying  beyond  the  scope  of  direct 
human  experience.  It  is  for  the  rising  generation  of  conscientious 
zoologists  and  botanists  to  attack  this  problem,  and  to  ascertain  if 
practicable  its  limitations  or  modifications. 

*  "In  the  investigation  of  nature,  we  provisionally  adopt  hypotheses  as  ante- 
cedent probabilities,  which  we  seek  to  prove  or  disprove  by  subsequent  observa- 
tion and  experiment:  and  it  is  in  this  way  that  science  is  most  rapidly  and 
securely  advanced."  (Agricult.  Report,  1856,  p.  456.) 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  343 

These  broad  and  fearless  views,  entertained  and  expressed  as 
early  as  1860,  or  1861,  exhibiting  neither  the  zealous  confidence  of 
the  votary,  nor  the  jealous  anxiety  of  the  antagonist,  received 
scarcely  any  modification  during  his  subsequent  years.  Nor  did 
it  ever  seem  to  occur  to  him  that  any  reconstruction  of  his  religious 
faith  was  involved  in  the  solution  of  the  problem.  So  much  reli- 
gious faith  indeed  was  exercised  by  him  in  every  scientific  judgment, 
that  he  regarded  the  teachings  of  science  but  as  revelations  of  the 
Divine  mode  of  government  in  the  natural  world :  to  be  diligently 
sought  for  and  submissively  accepted ;  with  the  constant  recognition 
however  of  our  human  limitations,  and  the  relativity  of  human 
knowledge.*  Not  inappropriately  may  be  here  recalled  a  char- 
acteristic statement  of  the  office  of  hypothesis,  made'  by  him  some 
ten  years  earlier:  presenting  a  consideration  well  calculated  to 
restrain  dogmatism  —  whether  in  science  or  in  theology.  "It  is  not 
necessary  that  an  hypothesis  be  absolutely  true,  in  order  that  it  may 
be  adopted  as  an  expression  of  a  generalization  for  the  purpose  of 
explaining  and  predicting  phenomena:  it  is  only  necessary  that  it 
should  be  well  conditioned  in  accordance  with  known  mechanical 
principles.  -  -  -  Man  with  his  finite  faculties  cannot  hope  in 
this  life  to  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of  absolute  truth :  and  were  the 
true  theory  of  the  universe,  or  in  other  words  the  precise  mode  in 
which  Divine  Wisdom  operates  in  producing  the  phenomena  of  the 
material  world  revealed  to  him,  his  mind  would  be  unfitted  for  its 
reception.  It  would  be  too  simple  in  its  expression,  and  too  gen- 
eral in  its  application,  to  be  understood  and  applied  by  intellects 
like  ours."  f 

INVESTIGATIONS   IN   ACOUSTICS. 

During  the  last  quarter  of  a  century,  among  the  many  interests 
which  demanded  and  engaged  his  attention,  Henry  studied  with 

*  With  reference  to  the  intimations  of  the  comparative  antiquity  of  man, 
HENRY  quoted  with  sympathetic  approbation  the  sentiment  so  well  expressed  by 
the  Bishop  of  London  in  a  Lecture  at  Edinburgh,  that  "The  man  of  science 
should  go  on  honestly,  patiently,  diffidently,  observing  and  storing  up  his  obser- 
vations, and  carrying  his  reasonings  unflinchingly  to  their  legitimate  conclu- 
sions, convinced  that  it  would  be  treason  to  the  majesty  at  once  of  science  and 
of  religion,  if  he  sought  to  help  either  by  swerving  ever  so  little  from  the  straight 
line  of  truth."  (Smithsonian  Report  for  1868,  p.  33.) 

t  Proceed.  Am.  Assoc.  Albany,  Aug.  1851,  pp.  85,  86,  and  87. 


344  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

much  care  various  phenomena  of  acoustics,  and  added  much  to  our 
practical  as  well  as  theoretical  knowledge  of  that  important  agency 
—  sound.  In  1851,  he  read  a  communication  before  the  American 
Association,  "On  the  Limit  of  Perceptibility  of  a  direct  and 
reflected  Sound/7  in  which  he  gave  as  the  result  of  experimental 
observations,  the  subjective  fact  that  a  wall  or  other  reflecting  sur- 
face if  beyond  the  distance  of  about  35  feet  from  the  ear,  or  from 
the  origin  of  the  sound,  gives  a  distinguishable  echo  from  the  sound ; 
but  that  if  the  ear  or  the  sounding  agent  be  placed  within  this 
distance,  the  reflected  sound  appears  to  blend  completely  with  the 
original  one.  From  a  number  of  experiments,  he  found  that  under 
the  same  circumstances,  this  limit  of  perceptibility  did  not  vary 
more  than  a  single  foot;  but  that  under  differing  conditions  the 
limit  of  distance  ranged  from  30  to  40  feet,  (equivalent  to  a  differ- 
ence of  from  60  to  80  feet  of  sound  travel,)  depending  partly  on 
the  sharpness  or  clearness  of  the  sound,  and  partly  on  the  pitch  or 
the  length  of  the  soniferous  wave,  which  affected  the  amount  of 
overlapping  of  the  two  series.  These  results  imply  a  duration  of 
acoustic  impression  on  the  ear  of  about  one-sixteenth  of  a  second ; 
serving  to  show  that  16  vibrations  to  the  second  must  be  about  the 
lower  limit  of  a  recognizable  musical  tone.  *  As  applied  to  Lecture- 
rooms,  he  pointed  out  that  the  ceiling  should  not  be  more  than 
about  thirty  feet  high,  within  which  elevation,  a  smooth  ceiling 
would  tend  to  re-inforce  the  sound  of  a  speaker's  voice,  f 

Many  experiments  were  afterward  made  on  the  resonance  of  dif- 
ferent materials,  by  means  of  tuning  forks.  While  a  tuning  fork 
suspended  by  a  fine  thread  continued  to  vibrate  for  upward  of  four 
minutes  with  scarcely  any  appreciable  sound,  if  placed  in  contact 
with  the  top  of  a  pine  table,  the  same  vibration  continued  but  ten 
seconds,  but  gave  a  loud  full  tone.  On  a  marble  topped  table  the 
sound  was  much  more  feeble,  and  the  vibration  continued  nearly 
two  minutes.  While  the  tuning  fork  against  a  brick  wall  gave  a 

*  FELIX  SAVART  some  twenty  years  previously,  concluded  from  observations 
with  the  siren,  "that  sounds  are  distinctly  perceptible,  and  even  strong,  when 
composed  of  no  more  than  eight  vibrations  in  a  second."  (Rev.  Encycl.  July,  1832. 
Quoted  in  Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  for  1832,  vol.  xxii.  p.  374.)  This  does  not  seem 
to  agree  with  ordinary  observations,  as  it  is  certain  that  intervals  of  one-eighth 
of  a  second  would  give  a  very  appreciable  rattle  to  almost  every  ear. 

t  Proceed.  Am.  Assoc.  Cincinnati,  May,  1851,  pp.  42,  43. 


DISCOURSE   OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  345 

feeble  tone  continuing  for  88  seconds,  against  a  lath  and  plaster 
partition  it  gave  a  sound  considerably  louder  but  continuing  only 
18  seconds.  On  a  large  block  of  soft  india-rubber  resting  on  the 
marble  slab,  the  vibration  was  very  rapidly  extinguished,  but  with- 
out giving  any  sensible  sound.  This  anomaly  required  an  explana- 
tion. By  means  of  a  compound  wire  of  copper,  and  iron  inserted 
into  the  piece  of  rubber,  and  having  the  extremities  connected  with 
a  thermo-galvanometer,  it  was  found  that  in  this  case  the  acoustic 
vibrations  were  converted  into  heat.  Sheets  of  india-rubber  there- 
fore are  among  the  best  absorbers  and  destroyers  of  sound.  A 
series  of  experiments  was  also  made  on  the  reflection  of  sound,  to 
determine  the  materials  least  adapted,  and  those  best  adapted  to  this 
purpose.  A  resume  of  these  researches,  having  reference  to  the 
acoustic  properties  of  public  halls,  was  read  before  the  American 
Association  in  August,  1856.* 

In  1865,  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Experiments  of  the 
U.  S.  Light-House  Board,  Henry  commenced  an  extended  series  of 
observations  on  the  conduct  and  intensity  of  sound  at  a  distance, 
under  varying  meteorological  conditions.  Well  aware  that  for  the 
practical  purposes  of  giving  increased  security  to  navigation,  the 
experiments  of  the  laboratory  were  of  little  value,  he  undertook  a 
number  of  experimental  trips  on  board  sailing  vessels,  and  on 
steamers,  in  order  to  make  his  observations  under  the  actual  con- 
ditions of  the  required  service.  As  many  of  his  investigations 
demanded  intelligent  co-operation,  and  sometimes  at  the  distances  of 
many  miles,  he  associated  with  him  at  different  times,  among  mem- 
bers of  the  Light-House  Establishment,  Commodore  Powell,  Com- 
modore Case,  Admiral  Trenchard,  Commander  Walker,  Captain 
Upshur,  General  Poe,  General  Barnard,  General  Woodruff,  Mr. 
Lederle,  and  other  engineers  of  different  Light-House  Districts, 
and  outside  of  the  establishment,  Dr.  Willing  and  others. 

At  the  outset  of  his  experiments,  he  found  that  sound  reflectors, 
which  play  so  interesting  a  part  in  lecture-room  exhibitions,  were 
practically  worthless  (of  whatever  available  dimensions)  for  the 
purpose  of  directing  or  concentrating  powerful  sounds  to  any  con- 

*  Proceed.  Am.  Assoc.  Albany,  Aug.  1856,  pp.  128-131. 


346  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

siderable  distance.  At  the  distance  of  a  mile  or  two  a  large  steam 
whistle  placed  in  the  focus  of  a  concave  reflector  10  feet  in  diameter 
could  be  heard  very  nearly  as  well  directly  behind  the  reflector,  as 
directly  in  front  of  it.  In  like  manner  the  direction  of  bell- 
mouths  and  of  trumpet-mouths,  was  found  to  be  of  comparatively 
little  importance  at  a  distance;  showing  the  remarkable  tendency 
to  diffusion,  especially  with  very  loud  sounds.  Most  of  the  obser- 
vations made  on  ship-board  were  afterward  repeated  on  land ;  and 
several  weeks  were  occupied  with  these  important  researches. 

"During  this  series  of  investigations  an  interesting  fact  was  dis- 
covered, namely,  a  sound  moving  against  the  wind,  inaudible  to  the 
ear  on  the  deck  of  the  schooner,  was  heard  by  ascending  to  the 
mast-head.  This  remarkable  fact  at  first  suggested  the  idea  that 
sound  was  more  readily  conveyed  by  the  upper  current  of  air  than 
the  lower."  After  citing  observations  by  others  apparently  con- 
firming the  suggestion  of  some  dominant  influence  in  the  upper 
wind,  Henry  adds :  "  The  full  significance  however  of  this  idea  did 
not  reveal  itself  to  me  until  in  searching  the  bibliography  of 
sound,  I  found  an  account  of  the  hypothesis  of  Professor  Stokes  in 
the  Proceedings  of  the  British  Association  for  1857,*  in  which  the 
effect  of  an  upper  current  in  deflecting  the  wave  of  sound  so  as  to 
throw  it  down  upon  the  ear  of  the  auditor,  or  directing  it  upward 
far  above  his  head,  is  fully  explained."  f  A  rough  attempt  was 
made  in  the  course  of  these  observations  (which  were  undertaken 
at  the  Light-house  near  New  Haven,  Connecticut)  to  compare  the 
velocity  of  the  wind  in  the  upper  regions  with  that  near  the  surface 
of  the  earth.  "  The  only  important  result  however  was  the  fact 
that  the  velocity  of  the  shadow  of  a  cloud  passing  over  the  ground 
was  much  greater  than  that  of  the  air  at  the  surface,  the  velocity 
of  the  latter  being  determined  approximately  by  running  a  given 
distance  with  such  speed  that  a  small  flag  was  at  rest  along  the  side 
of  its  pole.  While  this  velocity  was  not  perhaps  greater  than  six 
miles  per  hour,  that  of  the  shadow  of  the  cloud  was  apparently 
equal  to  that  of  a  horse  at  full  speed."  J 

*  Report  Brit.  Assoc.  Dublin,  1857,  vol.  xxvii.  2d  part,  pp.  22,  23. 
t  Report  of  Light-House  Board  for  1874,  p.  92. 

%  This  difference  has  since  been  established  by  a  number  of  independent 
observations.  Mr.  Glaisher  from  his  balloon  ascents  in  1863-1865,  ascertained  that 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  347 

In  October,  1867,  a  series  of  observations  was  made  at  Sandy 
Hook  (New  Jersey)  with  various  instruments.  A  sound  reflector 
being  employed,  the  distance  at  which  the  sand  on  the  phonometer 
drum — carried  in  front,  ceased  to  move  was  51  yards,  as  compared 
with  a  distance  of  40  yards,  without  the  reflector.  At  a  greater 
distance,  with  a  more  sensitive  instrument,  the  ratio  was  very  much 
diminished.  Experiments  were  also  made  on  the  relative  distances 
at  which  the  trumpet  affected  sensibly  the  drum  of  the  phonometer 
in  different  directions,  giving  as  their  result  a  limiting  spheroid 
whose  reach  in  the  forward  axis  of  the  trumpet  was  about  double 
that  in  the  rear  axis,  and  at  right  angles  to  the  axis,  was  about  a 
mean  proportional  between  the  two.  With  greater  distances,  these 
differences  were  evidently  very  much  reduced,  the  radii  becoming 
more  equalized.  In  the  summer  of  1871,  Henry  made  investiga- 
tions at  different  Light-stations,  on  our  western  coast  of  California. 

The  very  important  observation  that  a  sound  could  best  be  heard 
at  an  elevation  when  the  wind  is  adverse  (that  is  when  it  blows 
from  the  observer  to  wards  the  acoustic  signal,)  and  that  after  it  had 
even  been  entirely  lost  to  the  ear  in  such  case,  it  might  be  regained 
in  full  force  by  simply  ascending  to  a  suitable  elevation, —  admitted 
apparently  but  one  explanation,  namely  that  the  line  of  successive 
impulse  constituting  a  sound-beam  was  deflected  or  bent  upwards 
by  the  action  of  the  opposing  wind.  If — as  had  already  been 
shown  to  be  the  case  sometimes,  and  as  might  therefore  be  expected 
generally, —  the  adverse  wind  were  assumed  to  be  a  little  stronger 
at  the  elevation  than  at  the  surface,  such  a  result  would  at  once 
follow.  "  The  explanation  of  this  phenomenon  as  suggested  by  the 
hypothesis  of  Professor  Stokes  is  founded  on  the  fact  that  in  the 
case  of  a  deep  current  of  air  the  lower  stratum  or  that  next  the 
earth  is  more  retarded  by  friction  than  the  one  immediately  above, 

the  upper  currents  of  air  are  frequently  five  or  six  times  more  rapid  than  the 
surface  currents.  (Travels  in  the  Air,  p.  9.)  Prof.  Cleveland  Abbe  remarks:  "From 
seven  balloon  ascensions  made  on  July  4th,  1871,  at  different  points  in  the  United 
States,  I  have  deduced  the  velocity  of  the  upper  currents  as  about  four  times  that 
of  the  surface  wind  prevailing."  (Bulletin  Philosoph.  Soc.  Washington,  Dec.  16, 1871, 
vol.  i.  p.  39.)  And  M.  Peslin  states  in  general  terms:  "It  is  certain  according  to 
all  observations  made  both  in  mountains  and  in  balloons,  that  the  force  of  the 
wind  increases  considerably  as  we  ascend  in  the  atmosphere."  (Bulletin  Inter- 
national de  VObserv.  de  Paris  et  de  VObserv.  Phys,  Cent.  Montsouris,  July  7,  1872.) 


348  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

and  this  again  than  the  one  above  it,  and  so  on.  The  effect  of  this 
diminution  of  velocity  as  we  descend  toward  the  earth  is  in  the  case 
of  sound  moving  with  the  current,  to  carry  the  upper  part  of  the 
sound  waves  more  rapidly  forward  than  the  lower  parts,  thus 
causing  them  to  incline  toward  the  earth,  or  in  other  words,  to  be 
thrown  down  upon  the  ear  of  the  observer.  When  the  sound  is  in 
a  contrary  direction  to  the  current,  an  opposite  effect  is  produced, 
the  upper  portion  of  the  sound-waves  is  more  retarded  than  the 
lower,  which  advancing  more  rapidly  in  consequence,  inclines  the 
waves  upward  and  directs  them  above  the  head  of  the  observer,"  * 

From  several  observed  and  reported  cases  where  the  sound  of  a 
fog-signal  was  exceptionally  heard  to  a  greater  distance  against  the 
wind  than  toward  the  direction  of  the  wind,  Professor  Henry  for  a 
while  hesitated  to  give  the  hypothesis  of  Professor  Stokes  an 
unqualified  acceptance;  but  forced  as  he  was  constantly  to  recur  to 
it  as  the  only  plausible  explanation  of  the  ordinary  influence  of 
wind  on  the  transmission  of  sound,  he  finally  was  able  to  satisfy 
himself  that  even  the  apparent  exceptions  to  the  rule  were  really 
in  accord  with  it.  Having  more  than  once  observed  that  when 
the  upper  current  of  air,  as  indicated  by  the  course  of  the  clouds, 
is  in  an  opposite  or  different  direction  from  the  lower  or  sensible 
wind,  the  range  of  audibility  is  more  affected  and  favored  by  the 
upper  current,  it  was  a  natural  induction  to  extend  such  a  condition 
in  imagination  to  other  cases  of  abnormal  behavior  of  sound.  A 
large  amount  of  subsequent  labor  and  attention  was  devoted  to  the 
determination  of  this  important  question. 

In  1872  it  was  observed  from  on  board  a  steamer  approaching 
Portland  Head  station  in  the  harbor  of  Portland  ( Maine )  that  the 
fog-signal  which  had  been  distinctly  heard  through  many  miles, 
was  lost  to  the  ear  when  within  two  or  three  miles  of  the  point, 
that  it  continued  inaudible  throughout  the  nearer  distance  of  a  mile 
or  so,  and  that  it  was  again  heard  as  the  station  was  neared.  At 
Whitehead  light  station  on  a  small  rocky  island  about  a  mile  and  a 
half  from  the  coast,  (being  some  65  miles  northeast  of  Portland 
Head,)  it  was  observed  on  board  a  steamer  approaching  the  station 
during  a  thick  fog,  that  the  signal  (a  10-inch  steam  whistle)  though 

*  Report  of  Light-House  Board  for  1874,  p.  106. 


DISCOURSE   OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  349 

distinctly  heard  at  the  distance  of  six  miles  or  more,  and  with 
increasing  distinctness  as  the  steamer  advanced,  was  suddenly  lost 
at  about  three  miles,  and  was  not  recovered  until  within  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  from  the  station ;  the  wind  at  the  time  being  approxi- 
mately adverse  to  the  sound.  A  six-inch  steam  whistle  on  board 
the  steamer  was  meanwhile  distinctly  heard  at  the  station  during 
the  whole  time  of  inaudibility  of  the  larger  ten-inch  whistle,  which 
had  also  been  sounded  without  any  interruption.  This  remarkable 
phenomenon  implied  a  compound  flexure  of  the  sound-beams,  and 
accorded  with  previous  observations  made  at  the  same  points  by 
General  Duane  the  engineer  in  charge  of  the  first  and  second  Light- 
House  Districts. 

In  1873  observations  were  again  made  at  Whitehead  station,  and 
at  Cape  Elizabeth  light  station,  both  on  the  coast  of  Massachusetts. 
At  Whitehead  the  steam  whistle  was  heard  through  a  distance  of 
15  miles,  with  a  light  adverse  wind.  At  Cape  Elizabeth,  with  a 
stronger  adverse  wind,  the  siren  was  heard  only  about  nine  miles. 

In  1874,  observations  were  made  at  Little  Gull  island,  (off  the 
coast  of  Connecticut;)  at  Block  island,  (off  the  coast  of  Rhode 
Island;)  and  at  Sandy  Hook,  (New  Jersey.)  At  Little  Gull  island 
the  sound  of  a  siren  was  heard  against  a  moderate  wind,  only  three 
and  a  half  miles.  At  Block  island  the  siren  was  reported  to  have 
been  heard  under  favoring  conditions  of  wind  through  a  distance 
of  more  than  25  miles.  While  it  was  frequently  heard  at  Point 
Judith  station,  and  the  siren  at  the  latter  point  was  as  frequently 
heard  at  Block  Island,  ( the  distance  between  the  two  points  being 
17  miles,)  it  was  shown  on  comparison  of  records,  that  the  two 
instruments  had  not  been  heard  simultaneously;  the  wind  when 
favorable  to  the  one  being  unfavorable  to  the  other. 

At  Sandy  Hook,  for  the  purpose  of  making  simultaneous  obser- 
vations in  different  directions,  three  steamers  ( the  tenders  of  differ- 
ent light-houses)  were  employed,  with  steam  whistles  specially 
adjusted  to  the  same  tone  and  power.  The  latter  quality  having 
been  carefully  tested  by  the  phonometer,  the  three  vessels  steamed 
out  abreast  on  trial ;  and  their  whistles  sounding  in  regular  succes- 
sion "  became  inaudible  all  very  nearly  at  the  same  moment."  One 
of  the  vessels  being  then  anchored  at  a  distance  from  land,  the  two 


350  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

others  were  directed  in  opposite  courses,  one  with  the  wind,  or  east- 
ward, the  other  against  it,  or  westward.  In  15  minutes  the  whistle 
of  the  former  ceased  to  be  heard,  while  that  of  the  latter  was  very 
distinctly  heard;  the  anemometer  showing  a  wind  of  about  six 
miles  per  hour.  About  noon  the  vessels  changed  positions,  but  the 
sound  from  the  wrest  continued  audible  for  about  three  times  the 
distance  of  that  from  the  east,  though  the  wind  had  declined  to 
nearly  a  calm  or  to  about  half  a  mile  per  hour.  In  an  hour  and  a 
half  the  wind  had  changed  to  "within  two  points  of  an  exactly 
opposite  direction,  blowing  from  the  indications  of  the  anemometer 
at  the  rate  of  ten  and  a  half  miles  per  hour/'  The  vessels  once 
more  departing,  one  with  the  wind,  the  other  against  it,  the  sound 
of  the  whistle  coming  against  the  wind  was  this  time  heard  for  the 
greater  distance,  contrary  to  expectation.  On  the  following  day  a 
number  of  small  balloons  having  been  provided,  a  similar  series  of 
experiments  to  that  of  the  preceding  day  was  made ;  a  station  being 
selected  at  a  greater  distance  from  land.  On  the  first  trial,  with  a 
light  wind  from  the  west  of  about  one  and  a  quarter  miles  per  hour 
as  indicated  by  the  anemometer,  a  balloon  was  set  off  which  con- 
tinued rising  and  moving  eastward  till  lost  to  sight.  Two  of  the 
vessels  taking  opposite  courses  as  before,  gave  the  sound  in  the 
direction  of  the  wind  about  double  the  duration  of  that  coming 
against  the  slight  wind.  The  vessels  then  changed  places  in  their 
opposite  courses;  the  wind  having  subsided  to  a  calm.  "A  balloon 
let  off  ascended  vertically  until  it  attained  an  elevation  of  about 
1,000  feet,  when  turning  east  it  followed  the  direction  of  the  pre- 
vious one.  In  this  case  the  sound  of  the  whistle  coming  from  the 
east  was  heard  somewhat  longer  than  the  opposite  one.  At  the 
third  trial  made  after  noon,  the  wind  had  changed  nearly  one-third 
of  the  circle,  its  force  being  about  five  miles  per  hour.  The  vessels 
once  more  taking  their  courses  with  the  wind  and  against  it,  "  several 
balloons  set  off  at  this  time  were  carried  by  the  surface  wind  west- 
wardly  until  nearly  lost  to  sight,  when  they  were  observed  to  turn 
east,  following  the  direction  of  the  wind  traced  in  the  earlier  obser- 
vations." In  this  case  the  sound  was  heard  with  the  wind  very 
slightly  farther  than  against  it.  It  was  thus  shown  that  the  upper 
current  of  wind  had  remained  constant  throughout  the  day,  while 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  351 

the  changing  surface  wind  was  apparently  a  land  and  sea  breeze 
"due  to  the  heating  of  the  land  as  the  day  advanced :"  and  the 
varying  behavior  of  the  sound-beams  was  easily  explained  by  the 
varying  differences  of  velocity  in  their  wave  fronts  at  different 
heights. 

In  1875  Henry  continued  his  observations  at  Block  island,  (R.  I.) 
and  at  Little  Gull  island:  (Conn.)  The  southern  light-house  on 
Block  island  standing  on  the  edge  of  a  perpendicular  cliff  152  feet 
above  the  sea  level,  and  being  itself  52  feet  high  (to  its  focal  plane) 
this  point  was  selected  for  making  investigations  on  the  effect  of 
altitude  in  modifying  unfavorable  conditions  of  audibility.  Obser- 
vers were  accordingly  stationed  on  the  beach  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff, 
and  also  on  the  tower  200  feet  above,  to  record  simultaneously  the 
duration  of  the  whistle  signals  of  two  steamers  proceeding  in  oppo- 
site directions  toward  the  right  and  the  left.  The  sound  coming 
against  the  wind  ( of  about  seven  miles  per  hour )  continued  audible 
at  the  upper  station  four  times  longer,  (i.  e.  for  four  times  greater 
distance)  than  at  the  lower  station.  The  sound  coming  with  the 
wind,  was  unexpectedly  heard  at  the  lower  station  for  a  longer 
period  than  at  the  upper  one.  Another  observation  ( with  the  wind 
about  five  miles  per  hour)  gave  for  the  sound  against  the  wind, 
rather  more  than  twice  the  distance  of  audibility  at  the  upper 
station ;  and  for  the  sound  favored  by  the  wind,  a  slightly  greater 
distance  at  the  top  than  at  the  bottom  station.  The  next  observa- 
tion gave  as  before,  with  the  adverse  wind,  the  advantage  of  more 
than  double  the  distance  of  audibility  to  the  upper  station ;  mean- 
while one  of  the  observers  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff,  after  the  sound 
was  entirely  lost,  managed  by  climbing  to  a  ledge  about  30  feet 
above  the  beach,  to  recover  the  signal  quite  distinctly,  and  to  hear 
it  for  some  time.  The  sound  coming  with  the  wind  continued  to 
be  heard  at  both  the  higher  and  the  lower  stations  for  precisely  the 
same  time,  giving  on  this  occasion  no  advantage  to  either.  Obser- 
vations made  on  board  the  two  steamers  while  moving  in  opposite 
directions,  gave  for  the  sound  travelling  with  the  wind,  a  duration 
and  distance  more  than  five  times  that  for  the  sound  which  came 
against  the  wind.  Five  similar  experiments  gave  very  similar 
results.  The  two  vessels  moving  in  opposite  courses,  each  at  right 


352  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

angles  to  the  direction  of  the  wind,  gave  a  very  close  equality  for 
the  reciprocal  durations  of  the  sound.  In  the  following  month, 
similar  observations  were  made  at  Little  Gull  island,  which  were 
very  accordant  with  those  made  at  the  former  station.  As  a  result 
of  plotting  the  ranges  of  audibility  in  different  directions  from  a 
given  point,  producing  a  series  of  circular  figures  (more  or  less 
distorted)  of  very  different  sizes,  Henry  was  inclined  to  believe 
that  the  whole  area  of  audition  is  less  in  high  winds  than  in  gentle 
winds.  These  investigations  as  their  author  well  remarks, — 
"though  simple  in  their  conception,  have  been  difficult  and  laborious 
in  their  execution.  To  be  of  the  greatest  practical  value  they 
were  required  to  be  made  on  the  ocean  under  the  conditions  in 
which  the  results  are  to  be  applied  to  the  use  of  the  mariner,  and 
therefore  they  could  only  be  conducted  by  means  of  steam  vessels 
of  sufficient  power  to  withstand  the  force  of  rough  seas,  and  at 
times  when  these  vessels  could  be  spared  from  other  duty.  They 
also  required  a  number  of  intelligent  assistants  skilled  in  observa- 
tion and  faithful  in  recording  results."  * 

In  the  summer  of  last  year,  1877,  with  undiminished  ardor,  he 
continued  his  observations  on  sound;  selecting  this  time  Portland 
harbor,  Monhegan  island,  and  Whitehead  light  station,  on  the  coast 
of  Maine.  At  the  latter  station,  the  abnormal  phenomenon  of  a 
region  of  inaudibility  near  the  fog-signal,  and  extending  outward 
for  two  or  three  miles,  (beyond  which  distance  the  signal  is  again 
very  distinctly  heard,)  had  for  several  years  been  frequently 
observed.  This  singular  effect  is  noticed  only  in  the  case  of  a 
southerly  wind  when  the  vessel  is  approaching  the  signal  from 
the  same  quarter,  and  consequently  with  the  wind  adverse  to  the 
direction  of  the  sound-beams,  a  condition  of  the  wind  which  is 
the  usual  accompaniment  of  a  fog.  The  observation  showed  this 
intermediate  "belt  of  silence"  to  be  well  marked  on  board  the 
steamer  both  on  approaching  the  station  and  on  receding  from  it 
by  retracing  the  same  line  of  travel.  Meanwhile  the  intermittent 
signal  whistle  from  the  steamer  was  distinctly  heard  at  the  station 
on  both  the  outward  and  homeward  trips  of  the  vessel,  throughout 
its  course.  The  next  set  of  observations  was  made  on  the  opposite 

*  Report  of  the  Light-House  Board  for  1875,  p.  107. 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  353 

side  of  the  small  island,  by  directing  the  course  of  the  steamer 
northward ;  and  in  this  case  the  shore  signal  was  distinctly  heard 
throughout  the  trip,  while  the  signal  from  the  vessel  passed  through 
the  "  belt  of  silence  "  to  the  observers  at  the  station.  The  hypothesis 
of  a  local  sound  shadow  of  definite  extent,  is  excluded  by  the 
simple  fact  that  the  regions  traversed  were  entirely  unobstructed, 
the  two  points  of  observation  —  movable  and  stationary  —  being 
constantly  in  view  from  each  other  when  not  obscured  by  fog. 
The  hypothesis  of  a  stationary  belt  of  acoustic  opacity  is  equally 
excluded  by  the  uninterrupted  transmission  of  sound  through  the 
critical  region  in  one  direction ;  and  this  too  whichever  order  of 
observation  be  selected.  So  that  in  one  of  the  cases  the  powerful 
whistle  ten  inches  in  diameter  blown  by  a  steam  pressure  of  60 
pounds,  failed  utterly  to  make  itself  heard,  while  the  sound  from  a 
much  feebler  Avhistle  only  six  inches  in  diameter  and  blown  by  a 
steam  pressure  of  25  pounds,  traversed  with  ease  and  fulness  the 
very  same  space.  The  only  hypothesis  left  therefore  is  that  of 
diacoustic  refraction ;  by  which  the  sound-beam  from  one  origin  is 
bent  and  lifted  over  the  observer,  while  from  an  opposite  origin  the 
refraction  is  in  a  reversed  direction;  and  such  a  quality  in  the 
moving  air  is  referable  to  no  other  observed  condition  but  that  of 
its  motion,  that  is  to  the  influence  of  the  wind.  Observations  were 
afterward  made  at  Monhegan  island,  on  some  of  the  more  normal 
effects  of  the  refraction  of  sound  by  differences  of  wave  velocity, 
all  fully  confirming  the  supposition  which  had  been  so  variously 
and  critically  subjected  to  examination. 

The  principal  conclusions  summed  up  in  the  last  Report  for 
1877,  are:  1st.  The  audibility  of  sound  at  a  distance  depends 
primarily  upon  the  pitch,  the  intensity,  and  the  quantity  of  the 
sound :  the  most  efficient  pitch  being  neither  a  very  high  nor  a  very 
low  one, —  the  intensity  or  loudness  of  sound  resulting  from  the 
amplitude  of  the  vibration,  and  the  quantity  of  sound  resulting 
from  the  mass  of  air  simultaneously  vibrating.  2nd.  The  external 
condition  of  widest  transmission  of  sound  through  the  air  is  that 
of  stillness  and  perfect  uniformity  of  density  and  temperature 
throughout.  3rd.  The  most  serious  disturbance  of  the  audibility 
23 


354  MEMORIAL   OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

of  sound  at  a  distance,  results  from  its  refraction  by  the  wind, 
which  as  a  general  rule  moving  more  freely  and  rapidly  above  than 
near  the  earth,  tends  by  this  difference  to  lift  the  sound-beams 
upward  when  moving  against  the  wind,  and  in  a  downward  curve 
when  moving  with  it.  4th.  When  the  upper  current  of  air  is 
adverse  to  the  lower  or  sensible  wind,  or  whenever  from  any  cause 
the  wind  below  has  a  higher  velocity  than  that  above — in  the  same 
direction,  the  reverse  phenomenon  is  observed  of  sound  being  heard 
to  greater  distances  in  opposition  to  the  sensible  wind  than  it  is 
when  in  the  direction  of  the  surface  wind.  5th.  While  suitable 
reflectors  and  trumpet  cones  are  serviceable  in  giving  prominent 
direction  to  sounds  within  moderate  or  ordinary  distances,  yet  from 
the  rapid  diffusibility  of  the  sound-beams,  such  appliances  are 
worthless  for  distances  beyond  a  mile  or  two.  6th.  The  siren  has 
been  frequently  found  to  have  its  clearest  penetration  through  a 
widely  extended  fog,  and  also  through  a  thick  snow-storm  of  large 
area.  7th.  Intervening  obstructions  produce  sound  shadows  of 
greater  or  less  extent,  which  however  at  a  distance  but  slightly 
enfeeble  the  sound,  owing  to  the  lateral  diffusion  and  closing  in  of 
the  sound-waves.  8th.  The  singular  phenomenon  of  distinct 
audibility  of  sound  to  a  distance  with  a  limited  intermediate  region 
of  inaudibility  where  no  optical  obstruction  exists,  is  due  sometimes 
to  a  diffusion  of  upper  sound-beams  which  have  not  suffered  the 
upward  refraction;  sometimes  to  the  lateral  refraction  of  sound- 
beams  or  to  the  lateral  spread  of  sound  from  directions  not  affected 
by  the  upward  refraction ;  and  very  frequently  to  a  double  curva- 
ture of  the  refracted  sound-beams  under  an  adverse  lower  wind,  by 
reason  of  the  wave  fronts  being  less  retarded  by  the  lower  or 
surface  stratum  of  wind  than  by  that  a  short  distance  above,  and  at 
still  greater  heights  being  again  less  retarded,  and  finally  accelerated 
by  the  superior  favoring  wind. 

These  remarkable  series  of  acoustic  investigations  undertaken 
after  the  observer  had  considerably  exceeded  his  three-score  years, — 
perseveringly  continued  weeks  at  a  time,  and  sometimes  for  more 
than  a  month, — extending  through  a  period  of  twelve  years,  and 
pursued  over  a  wide  and  extremely  irregular  range  of  sea-coast, 


DISCOURSE   OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  355 

and  under  great  variety  of  both  topographical  and  meteorological 
conditions,  untiringly  prosecuted  by  numberless  sea  trips  of  10, 
15,  and  even  20  miles  in  single  stretches,  in  calm,  in  sunshine,  in 
storm,  with  every  variety  of  disregarded  exposure, — form  altogether 
a  labor  and  a  research,  quite  unequalled  and  unapproached  by  any 
similar  ones  on  record.  As  a  result  of  so  great  earnestness  and 
thoroughness  in  the  conduct  of  an  enterprise  of  so  great  difficulty, 
Henry  has  advanced  and  enriched  our  knowledge  by  contribu- 
tions to  the  science  of  acoustics,  unquestionably  the  most  important 
and  valuable  of  the  century.  By  persistent  cross-examination  of 
the  bewildering  anomalies  of  sound  propagation  under  wide  diver- 
sities of  locality  and  condition,  he  has  succeeded  in  evolving  order 
out  of  apparent  chaos,  in  reclaiming  a  new  district,  now  subjected 
to  the  orderly  reign  of  recognized  law,  and  in  raising  the  plausi- 
ble but  long  neglected  hypothesis  of  Stokes  into  the  domain  of  a 
verified  and  fully  established  theory.  Only  on  the  subject  of  the 
ocean  echo  had  he  failed  to  reach  a  solution  which  entirely  satisfied 
his  judgment;*  and  at  the  ripe  age  of  four-score  years  he  had 
mapped  out  a  further  extension  of  his  laborious  search  after  truth, 
when  his  untiring  and  beneficent  purposes  were  cut  short  by  death. 
With  these  great  labors  —  (a  full  demand  upon  the  energies  of 
youthful  vigor)  fittingly  closed  the  life  of  one  whose  long  career 
had  been  dedicated  to  the  service  of  his  race, —  no  less  by  the  unre- 
corded incitations  and  encouragements  of  others  to  the  prosecution 
of  original  research,  than  by  his  own  direct  and  earnest  efforts  on 
all  occasions  to  extend  the  boundaries  of  our  knowledge.  Nor  is 
it  permitted  us  to  indulge  in  vain  regrets  that  thirty  years  of  such 
a  life  were  seemingly  so  much  withdrawn  from  his  own  chosen 

*  "The  question,  therefore,  remains  to  be  answered:  what  is  the  cause  of  the 
aerial  echo?  As  I  have  stated,  it  must  in  some  way  be  connected  with  the  hori- 
zon. The  only  explanation  which  suggests  itself  to  me  at  present  is,  that  the 
spread  of  the  sound  which  fills  the  whole  atmosphere  from  the  zenith  to  the 
horizon  with  sound-waves,  may  continue  their  curvilinear  direction  until  they 
strike  the  surface  of  the  water  at  such  an  angle  and  direction  as  to  be  reflected 
back  to  the  ear  of  the  observer.  In  this  case  the  echo  would  be  heard  from  a 
perfectly  flat  surface  of  water,  and  as  different  sound-rays  would  reach  the  water 
at  different  distances  and  from  different  azimuths,  they  would  produce  the  pro- 
longed character  of  the  echo  and  its  angular  extent  along  the  horizon.  While 
we  do  not  advance  this  hypothesis  as  a  final  solution  of  the  question,  we  shall 
provisionally  adopt  it  as  a  means  of  suggesting  further  experiments  in  regard  to 
this  perplexing  question  at  another  season."  (Report  of  L.  H.  Board,  1877,  p.  70.) 


356  MEMORIAL   OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

ministry  at  the  altar  of  science,  to  be  occupied  so  largely  with  the. 
drudgery  and  the  routine  of  merely  administrative  duties.  True 
though  it  be,  that  talents  adapted  to  such  functions  are  very  much- 
more  common  and  available  than  those  which  form  the  successful 
interrogator  of  Nature,  who  that  knows  by  what  exertions  Smith- 
son's  wise  endowment  was  rescued  from  the  wasteful  dissipation  of 
heterogeneous  local  agencies  and  objects — by  what  heroic  constancy, 
and  through  what  ordeals  of  remonstrance  and  misconception,  of 
contumely  and  denunciation,  the  modest  income  of  the  fund  (hus- 
banded and  increased  by  prudent  management)  was  yearly  more 
and  more  withdrawn  from  merely  popular  uses  and  interests,  and 
more  and  more  applied  to  its  truest  and  highest  purpose,  the  foster- 
ing of  abstract  research,  the  founding  of  a  pharos  for  the  future, — 
the  "increasing  and  diffusing  of  knowledge  among  men," — who 
that  knows  all  this,  can  say  that  Henry  was  mistaken  in  his  de- 
votion, or  that  his  ripest  years  were  wasted  in  an  unprofitable 
mission?*  But  in  addition  to  this  vast  work, —  accomplished  as 
probably  no  one  of  his  scientific  compeers  would  have  had  the  forti- 
tude and  the  indomitable  persistence  to  carry  through,  his  personal 
contributions  to  modern  science  (as  has  been  shown)  have  through- 
out been  neither  few  nor  unimportant. 

One  remarkable  circumstance  relating  to  Henry's  directorship  of 
the  Smithsonian  publications  (which  have  had  so  wide  a  distribution 
and  influence)  f  must  not  be  here  passed  over.  Having  himself, 

*"But  it  is  not  alone  the  material  advantages  which  the  world  enjoys  from 
the  study  of  abstract  science  on  which  its  claims  are  founded.  Were  all  further 
applications  of  its  principles  to  practical  purposes  to  cease,  it  would  still  be 
entitled  to  commendation  and  support  on  account  of  its  more  important  effects 
upon  the  general  mind.  It  offers  unbounded  fields  of  pleasurable,  healthful,  and 
ennobling  exercise  to  the  restless  intellect  of  man,  expanding  his  powers  and 
enlarging  his  conceptions  of  the  wisdom,  the  energy,  and  the  beneficence  of  the 
great  Ruler  of  the  universe.  From  these  considerations  then,  and  others  of  a 
like  kind,  I  am  fully  justified  in  the  assertion  that  this  Institution  has  clone 
good  service  in  placing  prominently  before  the  country  the  importance  of  original 
research,  and  that  its  directors  are  entitled  to  commendation  for  having  so  uni- 
formly and  persistently  kept  in  view  the  fact  that  it  was  not  intended  for 
educational  or  immediately  practical  purposes,  but  .for  the  encouragement  of  the 
study  of  theoretical  principles  and  the  advancement  of  abstract  knowledge." 
(Smithsonian  Report  for  1859,  p.  17.) 

t"The  number  of  copies  of  the  Smithsonian  Contributions  distributed,  is 
greater  than  that  of  the  Transactions  of  any  scientific  or  literary  society ;  and 
therefore  the  Institution  offers  the  best  medium  to  be  found  for  diffusing  a 
knowledge  of  scientific  discoveries."  (Smithsonian  Report  for  1851,  p.  202.) 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  357 

amidst  the  absorbing  occupations  of  his  position,  conducted  so  valu- 
able original  investigations  —  on  the  strength  of  building  materials, 
—  on  the  best  illuminants  and  their  proper  conditions, —  and  espe- 
cially in  his  last  great  labor  on  the  philosophy  of  sound,  we  should 
naturally  expect  to  find  them  displayed  in  the  "Smithsonian  Con- 
tributions ;"  where  in  interest  and  importance  second  to  none 
contained  in  that  extensive  and  admirable  series,  these  memoirs 
would  have  found  their  fitting  place,  and  have  given  honor  to  the 
collection.  But  as  if  to  avoid  all  semblance  of  a  personal  motive  in 
his  resolute  policy  of  administration,  he  published  nothing  for  him- 
self at  the  expense  of  the  Smithsonian  fund ;  his  numerous  original 
productions  being  given  to  the  public  through  the  channel  of  vari- 
ous official  reports.  And  thus  it  has  occurred  that  his  writings 
scattered  in  the  different  directions  which  seemed  to  him  at  the 
time  most  suitable,  with  little  thought  of  any  special  publicity  or 
perpetuity,  have  largely  failed  to  reach  the  audience  which  would 
most  appreciate  them.  And  many  of  his  most  valuable  papers  — 
never  by  himself  collected — must  be  searched  for  in  unsuggestive 
volumes  of  Agricultural,  or  Light-House  Board  Reports.  * 

For  him  it  seemed  enough  that  what  was  once  established,  would 
not  be  willingly  let  die;  that  the  medium  or  the  occasion  of  com- 
munication was  of  comparatively  little  consequence,  if  but  a  new 
fact  or  principle  were  thrown  into  proper  currency,  and  duly 
accepted  as  part  of  the  world's  wealth:  and  beyond  all  ordinary 
men  he  seemed  to  feel  the  insignificance  of  personal  fame  as  com- 
pared with  the  infinite  value  of  truth.  The  most  appropriate  monu- 
ment of  such  a  man  would  be  a  full  collection  of  his  writings, 
produced  in  a  worthy  and  appropriate  style  of  publication. 

Less  than  a  year  ago,  (on  the  evening  of  November  24th,  1877,) 
he  delivered  in  this  place  before  this  Society  his  annual  address, 
shortly  after  his  re-election  as  its  President; — an  address  which  as 
we  beheld  the  remarkable  fulness  and  freshness  of  the  speaker's 

*  Many  valuable  communications  made  to  the  American  Association,  to  the 
National  Academy  of  Sciences,  to  the  Washington  Philosophical  Society,  and  to 
other  bodies,  from  rough  notes,  which  their  author  was  prevented  from  writing 
fairly  out,  by  the  unceasing  pressure  of  his  multitudinous  official  and  public 
duties,  have  unfortunately  been  published  only  by  title. 


358  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

mental  and  bodily  powers, —  we  little  thought  was  in  reality  his 
valedictory.  In  it  he  concisely  yet  lucidly  portrayed  for  the  stimu- 
lation of  more  youthful  physicists,  the  processes  and  the  qualities 
necessary  for  success  in  original  research; — the  awakened  attention 
to  "  the  seeds  of  great  discoveries  constantly  floating  around  us/' — 
the  careful  observation,  the  clear  perception  of  the  actual  facts 
uncolored  as  much  as  possible  by  a  priori  conceptions  or  expecta- 
tions,—  the  faculty  of  persevering  watchfulness,  and  the  judgment 
to  eliminate  (with  all  due  caution)  the  conditions  which  are  acci- 
dental,— the  importance  of  a  provisional  hypothesis, —  the  con- 
scientious and  impartial  testing  of  such  by  every  expedient  that 
ingenuity  may  suggest, —  the  lessons  taught  by  failure, —  the  firm 
holding  of  the  additional  facts  thus  gleaned,  though  adverse  and 
disappointing, —  the  diligent  pondering,  and  the  logical  application 
of  deductive  consequences,  to  be  again  examined,  until  as  the  reward 
of  patient  solicitation,  the  answer  of  nature  is  at  least  revealed. 

"The  investigator  now  feels  amply  reAvarded  for  all  his  toil,  and 
is  conscious  of  the  pleasure  of  the  self-appreciation  which  flows 
from  having  been  initiated  into  the  secrets  of  nature,  and  allowed 
the  place  not  merely  of  an  humble  worshipper  in  the  vestibule  of 
the  temple  of  science,  but  an  officiating  priest  at  the  altar.  In  this 
sketch  which  I  have  given  of  a  successful  investigation,  it  will  be 
observed  that  several  faculties  of  the  mind  are  called  into  operation. 
First,  the  imagination,  which  calls  forth  the  forms  of  things  unseen 
and  gives  them  a  local  habitation,  must  be  active  in  presenting  to 
the  mind's  eye  a  definite  conception  of  the  modes  of  operation  of 
the  forces  in  nature  sufficient  to  produce  the  phenomena  in  question. 
Second,  the  logical  power  must  be  trained  in  order  to  deduce  from 
the  assumed  premises  the  conclusions  necessary  to  test  the  truth  of 
the  assumption  in  the  form  of  an  experiment;  and  again  the  inge- 
nuity must  be  taxed  to  invent  the  experiment  or  to  bring  about  the 
arrangement  of  apparatus  adapted  to  test  the  conclusions.  These 
faculties  of  mind  may  all  be  much  improved  and  strengthened  by 
practice.  The  most  important  requisite  however  to  scientific 
investigations  of  this  character,  is  a  mind  well  stored  with  clear 
conceptions  of  scientific  generalizations,  and  possessed  of  sagacity 
in  tracing  analogies  and  devising  hypotheses.  Without  the  use  of 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  359 

hypotheses  or  antecedent  probabilities,  as  a  general  rule  no  extended 
series  of  investigations  can  be  made  as  to  the  approximate  cause  of 
casual  phenomena.  They  require  to  be  used  however  with  great 
care,  lest  they  become  false  guides  which  lead  to  error  rather  than 
to  truth."  *  Who  that  listened  could  fail  to  perceive  that  the  speaker 
was  unconsciously  giving  us  precious  glimpses  into  his  own  ex- 
perience ? 

In  less  than  two  weeks  after  this,  his  last  appearance  among  us, 
he  suffered  at  New  York  a  temporary  numbness  in  his  hands, 
which  he  feared  might  threaten  a  paralysis ;  but  a  subsequent  swell- 
ing of  his  feet  and  hands  revealed  to  his  physician  the  nature  of 
his  inward  disease  as  a  nephritis,  which  had  insidiously  assailed 
him  before  it  was  suspected,  and  had  doubtless  been  aggravated 
by  his  unremitting  scientific  labors  continued  as  usual  through  his 
last  summer  vacation.  Only  a  month  before  he  died,  he  thus 
described  the  commencement  of  his  malady:  " After  an  almost 
uninterrupted  period  of  excellent  health  for  fifty  years,  I  awoke  on 
the  5th  of  December  at  my  office  in  the  Light-House  Depot  in 
Staten  Island,  finding  my  right  hand  in  a  paralytic  condition.  This 
was  at  first  referred  by  the  medical  adviser,  to  an  affection  of  the 
brain,  but  as  the  paralysis  subsided  in  a  considerable  degree  in  the 
course  of  two  days,  this  conclusion  was  doubted,  and  on  a  thorough 
examination  through  the  eye,  and  by  means  of  auscultation,  and 
chemical  analysis,  Dr.  S.  Weir  Mitchell  and  Dr.  J.  J.  Woodward 
pronounced  the  disease  an  affection  of  the  kidneys."  f 

*  Bulletin  Phil.  Soc.  Washington,  Nov.  24,  1877,  vol.  ii.  pp.  165,  166. 

t  Opening  Address,  written  for  the  meeting  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sci- 
ences, April  16th,  1878.  (Proceed.  Nat.  Acad.  ScL,  vol.  i.  part  2,  pp.  127, 128.)  — In  the 
same  address  (read  to  the  Academy  by  the  Secretary)  he  remarked :  "  I  am  warned 
that  I  must  devote  my  energies  with  caution,  and  expend  no  more  power  — 
physical  or  mental,  than  is  commensurate  with  my  present  condition,  and  in 
consideration  of  this  I  think  it  advisable  to  curtail  as  much  as  possible,  the 
various  offices  which  have  been  pressed  upon  me  in  consideration  of  my  resi- 
dence in  the  city  of  Washington,  and  my  association  with  the  Smithsonian 
Institution.  -  -  -  I  therefore  beg  leave  to  renew  my  request  to  be  allowed  to 
resign  the  presidency  of  the  Academy,  the  resignation  to  take  effect  at  the  next 
meeting.  I  retain  the  office  six  months  longer,  in  the  hope  that  I  may  be 
restored  to  such  a  condition  of  health  as  to  be  able  to  prepare  some  suggestions 
which  may  be  of  importance  for  the  future  of  the  Academy."  And  in  his  closing 
Address  at  the  end  of  the  session,  three  days  later  (April  19th),  in  earnest  words 
having  now  the  solemnity  of  a  valedictory  charge,  .he  urged  that  moral  integrity 
of  character  is  essential  to  conscientious  fidelity  in  scientific  research ;  and  that 


360  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

Aware  that  his  illness  was  fatal,  he  yet  felt  lulled  by  that  strange 
flattery  of  disease  when  unattended  with  a  painful  wasting,  into 
the  thought  that  he  might  probably  survive  the  approaching  warmer 
weather;  and  fully  prepared  for  death,  with  the  sense  of  life  still 
strong  within  him,  he  planned  what  might  yet  be  accomplished. 

But  with  occasional  alternations  of  more  favorable  symptoms, 
with  the  uremia  steadily  increasing,  his  strength  slowly  declined : 
and  as  he  lay  at  noon  of  the  13th  of  last  May,  [1878,]  with  grow- 
ing difficulty  of  breathing — surrounded  by  loving  and  anguished 
hearts  —  his  last  feeble  utterance  was  an  inquiry  which  way  the 
wind  came.  With  intellect  clear  and  unimpaired,  calmly  that  pure 
and  all  unselfish  spirit  passed  away;  leaving  a  void  all  the  more 
real,  all  the  more  felt,  that  the  deceased  had  reached  a  good  old  age, 
and  had  worthily  accomplished  his  allotted  work. 

PERSONALITY   AND    CHARACTER. 

Of  Henry's  personal  appearance,  it  is  sufficient  to  say,  that  his 
figure,  above  the  medium  height,  was  finely  proportioned ;  that  his 
mien  and  movement  were  dignified  and  imposing;  and  that  on 
whatever  occasion  called  upon  to  address  an  assembly, 

"  With  grave  aspect  he  rose,  and  in  his  rising  seemed 
A  pillar  of  state:  deep  on  his  front  engraven 
Deliberation  sat,  and  public  care." 

His  head  and  features  were  of  massive  mould;  though  from  the 
perfect  proportion  of  his  form,  not  too  conspicuously  so.  His 
expansive  brow  was  crowned  with  an  abundant  flow  of  whitened 
hair;  his  lower  face  always  smoothly  shaven,  expressed  a  mingled 
gentleness  and  firmness;  and  his  countenance  of  manly  symmetry 
was  in  all  its  varying  moods,  a  pleasant  study  of  the  mellowing, 
moulding  impress  of  long  years  of  generous  feeling,  and  a  worthy 
exponent  of  the  fine  and  thoughtful  spirit  within :  wearing  in 

it  should  therefore  be  an  indispensable  test  of  membership  in  an  Academy 
strenuous  in  maintaining  its  exalted  function.  "It  is  not  social  position,  popu- 
larity, extended  authorship,  or  success  as  an  instructor  in  science  which  entitles 
to  membership,  but  actual  new  discoveries;  nor  are  these  sufficient  if  the  repu- 
tation of  the  candidate  is  in  the  slightest  degree  tainted  with  injustice  or  want 
of  truth.  Indeed  I  think  that  immorality  and  great  mental  power  exercised  in 
the  discovery  of  scientific  truths,  are  incompatible  with  each  other;  and  that 
more  error  is  introduced  from  defect  in  moral  sense  than  from  want  of  intellec- 
tual capacity."  (Same  Proceedings,  p.  129.) 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  361 

repose  a  certain  pensive  but  benignant  majesty,  in  the  abstraction 
of  study  a  semblance  of  constrained  severity,  in  the  relaxation  of 
friendly  intercourse  a  genial  frank  and  winning  grace  of  expression. 
The  varying  shades  of  such  expression,  with  the  changing  current 
of  his  thought,  combined  with  a  certain  reserve, — or  (perhaps  more 
properly)  freedom  from  effusiveness,  —  imparted  to  his  aspect  and 
his  intercourse  a  singular  charm.*  His  whole  physique  was  in  ad- 
mirable harmony  with  his  power  of  intellect; — the  fitting  vesture  of 
the  mens  sana  in  corpore  sano.  Like  his  intimate  personal  friend 
Agassiz,  he  seemed  to  stand  and  to  move  among  men  as  the  very 
embodiment  of  unfailing  vigorous  health  and  physical  strength;  and 
only  a  year  ago,  he  walked  with  as  erect  and  elastic  a  carriage, 
with  as  firm  and  sprightly  a  step,  as  any  one  here  present. 

It  is  difficult  to  attempt  oven  a  sketch  of  Henry's  intellectual 
character,  without  allusion  to  his  moral  attributes;  so  constantly 
did  the  latter  dominate  the  former.  It  may  be  said  that  the  most 
characteristic  feature  of  his  varied  activities  was  earnestness,  and 
this  as  usual,  was  the  offspring  as  much  of  a  moral  as  of  a  mental 
purpose. 

His  mind  was  eminently  logical ;  and  this  rational  power  was 
exhibited  in  every  department  of  his  theoretical  or  his  practical 
pursuits.  He  never  showed  or  felt  uneasiness  at  necessary  deduc- 
tive consequences,  if  the  premises  were  well  considered  or  appeared 
to  be  well  founded;  confident  that  all  truth  must  ultimately  be 
found  consistent.  If  presented  with  the  problem  of  an  untried 
case,  while  avowing  the  necessity  of  reserve  in  predicting  results, 
he  seemed  to  have  an  almost  intuitive  apprehension  of  the  opera- 
tion of  natural  law.  If  confronted  with  an  unfamiliar  phenomenon, 
whether  in  the  experience  of  others,  or  in  his  own  observations, 
his  imagination  was  fertile  in  the  suggestion  of  test  conditions  for 
eliminating  variable  influences.  While  few  have  ever  held  the 
function  of  hypothesis  in  higher  estimation  as  an  instrument  of 
research,  no  one  ever  held  hypothesis  in  more  complete  subjection. 

*Of  the  numerous  photographic  portraits  of  Henry  taken  within  the  past  ten 
or  twenty  years,  it  has  been  often  remarked  that  no  two  appear  to  have  the  same 
character,  or  to  bear  a  very  close  resemblance  to  each  other.  Three  or  four  meri- 
torious portraits  in  oil  ( of  life-size )  perpetuate  his  likeness,  with  the  same  char- 
acteristic differences. 


362  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HEXRY. 

As  a  lecturer  and  instructor,  he  was  always  most  successful. 
Free  from  all  self-consciousness,  thinking  only  of  his  subject,  and 
its  fittest  mode  of  presentation,  he  spoke  from  the  fullness  of  a 
ripened  knowledge,  —  intent  on  communicating  to  others  the  intel- 
lectual pleasures  of  insight  he  had  made  his  own;  and  without 
attempt  at  oratorical  display,  his  expositions  —  in  simple,  direct,  and 
conversational  language,  were  so  lucid,  satisfying,  and  convincing, 
that  they  enlisted  from  the  beginning  and  secured  to  the  close, 
the  attentive  interest  of  his  auditors. 

His  sympathy  with  the  pursuits  of  the  rising  generation  of  phys- 
icists was  ever  manifested  in  a  disposition  to  frequent  consulta- 
tion and  interchange  of  views  with  them ;  as  if  (aware  of  the  usual 
tendency  to  mental  ossification  with  advancing  years,)  he  thus 
sought  by  familiar  association  to  drink  at  the  fountain  of  perennial 
youth.  And  surely  no  one  was  ever  more  successful  in  retaining 
life's  coveted  greenness  in  age;  —  not  more  in  the  child-like  sim- 
plicity of  his  disposition,  in  the  geniality  of  his  affections,  and  in 
his  undimrned  faith,  hope,  and  charity,  for  mankind,  than  in  his 
intellectual  freedom  from  undue  prejudices,  and  in  his  readiness 
calmly  to  discuss  or  adopt  new  theories. 

And  this  leads  to  the  reflection  that  in  the  seeming  contrasts  of 
his  nature  were  combined  qualities  which  formed  in  him  a  resultant 
of  character  and  of  temperament  as  rare  as  admirable.  With  this 
great  mobility  of  aptitude  and  of  circumspection,  this  adaptability 
of  mental  attitude,  he  yet  possessed  an  unusual  firmness  of  resolu- 
tion. With  a  manly  sturdiness  of  conviction  he  presented  an 
unvarying  equability  of  temper  and  of  toleration ;  and  with  per- 
fect candor  as  perfect  a  courtesy.  With  a  characteristic  dignity  of 
figure  of  presence  and  of  deportment,  he  preserved  an  entire  free- 
dom from  any  shade  of  arrogance.  With  a  warm  and  active 
charity,  he  still  displayed  a  shrewd  perception  of  character;  and 
while  ever  responsive  to  the  appeals  of  real  distress,  his  insight 
into  human  nature  protected  him  from  being  often  deceived  by  the 
wiles  of  the  designing.  Intolerant  of  charlatanry  and  imposture, 
he  was  capable  of  exhibiting  a  wonderful  patience  with  the  tedium 
of  honest  ignorance.  Possessing  in  earlier  life  a  natural  quick- 
ness of  temper,  and  always  a  high  degree  of  native  sensibility,  his 


DISCOURSE  OF  W.  B.  TAYLOR.  363 

perfect  self-control  led  the  casual  acquaintance  to  regard  him  as 
reserved  and  unimpressible.  Of  him  it  may  be  truly  said  in 
simple  and  oft-quoted  words: 

"  His  life  was  gentle;  and  the  elements 
So  mixed  in  him,  that  Nature  might  stand  up 
And  say  to  all  the  world— This  was  a  MAN!" 

With  all  his  broad  humanity,  he  possessed  but  little  of  what  is 
known  as  "humor."  He  could  enjoy  the  ludicrous  more  heartily 
when  drolly  narrated  by  its  appreciative  victims,  than  when  sarcas- 
tically recited  at  the  expense  of  another.  The  sparkle  of  wit  he 
fully  appreciated,  provided  it  were  free  from  coarseness  and  from 
personal  satire.  From  the  subordination  of  his  sense  of  humor  to 
his  native  instinct  of  sincerity,  he  had  no  approbation — or  indeed 
tolerance  of  "practical  jokes/7  holding  that  the  shock  to  the  feel- 
ings or  to  the  confidence  of  the  dupe,  is  far  too  high  a  price  for  the 
momentary  hilarity  enjoyed  by  the  thoughtless  at  a  farcical  situa- 
tion. Newspaper  hoaxes  —  literary  or  scientific,  in  like  manner 
received  his  stern  reprobation,  as  uncompensated  injuries  to  popular 
trust  and  to  the  cause  of  popular  enlightenment. 

Strong  in  his  unerring  sense  of  justice  and  of  right,  he  allowed 
no  prospects  of  personal  advantage  to  influence  his  judgment  in 
action,  in  decision,  or  in  opinion :  he  never  availed  himself  of 
the  opportunities  offered  by  his  position,  of  reaping  gain  from 
profitable  suggestions  or  favorable  awards :  and  he  never  willingly 
inflicted  an  injury  even  on  the  feelings  of  the  humblest.  '  This  was 
characteristically  shown  in  the  pains  taken  to  convince  the  judg- 
ment of  those  against  whose  visionary  projects  he  was  so  often  called 
upon  to  report  in  the  public  interests  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution, 
of  the  Light-House  service,  and  of  the  General  Government:  — 
often  expending  an  amount  of  valuable  time  and  of  patience  which 
few  so  situated  would  have  accorded,  or  could  well  have  afforded. 
And  yet  on  the  other  hand  when  himself  the  subject  of  injustice, 
misconstruction,  or  abuse,  he  never  suffered  himself  to  be  provoked 
into  a  controversy;  —  as  if  holding  life  too  serious,  time  too  pre- 
cious, to  be  wasted  in  mere  disputation.  Least  of  all  did  he  ever 
think  of  resorting  to  retaliatory  conduct  or  to  the  expression  of 
opprobrious  sentiments.  He  calmly  put  aside  disturbing  elements, 


364  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

and  seemed  endowed  with  the  power  of  excluding  from  his  mental 
vision  all  irritating  incidents.  In  that  benignant  breast  there 
harbored  no  resentments. 

Great  as  is  the  loss  we  have  sustained  of  "guide,  philosopher, 
and  friend/7  we  have  yet  the  mournful  satisfaction  of  reflecting 
that  his  influence,  powerful  as  it  always  has  been  for  good,  still 
survives  —  in  his  works,  his  high  example,  and  his  unclouded 
memory; — that  our  community,  our  country,  the  world  itself, 
has  been  benefitted  by  his  existence  here;  and  that  as  time  rolls 
on,  its  course  will  be  marked  by  increasing  circles  of  appre- 
ciation, reverence,  and  gratitude,  for  the  teachings  of  his  high  and 
noble  life. 


LIST   OF  THE 

SCIENTIFIC  PAPERS  OF  JOSEPH  HENRY. 


1825.  On  the  production  of  cold  by  the  rarefaction  of  Air:  accompanied  with 
Experiments.  (Presented  Mar.  2.)  Abstract,  Trans.  Albany  Institute. 
vol.  i.  part  ii.  p.  36. 

1827.  On  some  Modifications  of  the  Electro-magnetic  Apparatus.     (Read  Oct.  10.) 

Trans.  Albany  Inst.  vol.  i.  pp.  22-24. 
1829.  Topographical  Sketch  of  the  State  of  New  York ;  designed  chiefly  to  show 

the  General  Elevations  and  Depressions  of  its  Surface.     (Read  Oct.  28.) 

Trans.  Albany  Inst.  vol.  i.  pp.  87-112. 
1829.  First  Abstract  of  Meteorological  Records  of  the  State  of  New  York,  for  1828. 

(In  conjunction  with  Dr.  T.  Romeyn  Beck.)     Annual  Report  of  Eegents  of 

University,  to  the  Legislature  of  New  York. — Albany,  1829. 

1829.  On  the  Mean  Temperature  of  Twenty-seven  different  Places  in  the  State  of 

New  York,  for  1828.  (In  conjunction  with  Dr.  T.  Romeyn  Beck.)  Brew- 
ster>s  Edinburgh  Jour.  Science,  Oct.  1829,  vol.  i.  n.  s.  pp.  249-259. 

1830.  Second  Abstract  of  Meteorological  Records  of  the  State  of  New  York  for  1829. 

(In  conjunction  with  Dr.  T.  Romeyn  Beck.)  Annual  Report  of  Regents  of 
University,  to  the  Legislature  of  New  York. — Albany,  1830. 

1831.  On  the  Application  of  the  Principle  of  the  Galvanic  Multiplier  to  Electro- 

magnetic Apparatus,  and  also  to  the  development  of  grpat  Magnetic  power 
in  soft  iron,  with  small  Galvanic  Elements.  Silliman's  American  Jour. 
Science,  Jan.  1831,  vol.  xix.  pp.  400-408.  Jour,  of  Roy.  Institution  of  Gr. 
Brit.  May,  1831,  vol.  i.  pp.  609, 610. 

1831.  Tabular  Statement  of  the  Latitudes,  Longitudes,  and  Elevations,  of  42  Mete- 
orological Stations  in  New  York.  Annual  Report  Regents  of  University  to 
Legislature  N.  Y.  1831. 

1831.  Third  Abstract  of  Meteorological  Records  of  State  of  New  York  for  1830. 
(In  conjunction  with  Dr.  T.  Romeyn  Beck.)  Annual  Report  of  Regents  of 
University,  to  the  Legislature  of  New  York. — Albany,  1831. 

1831.  An  Account  of  a  large  Electro-magnet,  made  for  the  Laboratory  of  Yale  Col- 
lege. (In  conjunction  with  Dr.  Ten  Eyck.)  Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci. 
April,  1831,  vol.  xx.  pp.  201-203.  Jour,  of  Roy.  Institution  of  Gr.  Brit. 
Aug.  1831,  vol.  ii.  p.  182. 

1831.  On  a  Reciprocating  Motion  produced  by  Magnetic  attraction  and  repulsion. 
Silliman's  Am.  Jo^y.  Sci.  July,  1831,  vol.  xx.  pp.  340-343.  Sturgeon's 
Annals  of  Electricity,  etc.  vol.  iii.  pp.  430-432. 

(365) 


366  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

1832.  On  a  Disturbance  of  the  Earth's  Magnetism  in  connection  with  the  appear- 
ance of  an  Aurora  as  observed  at  Albany  on  the  19th  of  April,  1831. 
(Communicated  to  the  Albany  Institute,  Jan.  26,  1832.)  Report  of  Regents 
of  University,  to  the  Legislature  of  New  York. — Albany,  1832.  Silliman's 
Am.  Jour.  Sci.  July,  1832,  vol.  xxii.  pp.  143-155. 

1832.  Fourth  Abstract  of  Meteorological  Records  of  the  State  of  New  York  for  1831. 
(In  conjunction  with  Dr.  T.  Romeyn  Beck.)  Annual  Report  of  Regents  of 
University,  to  the  Legislature  of  New  York. — Albany,  1831. 

1832.  On  the  Production  of  Currents  and  Sparks  of  Electricity  from  Magnetism. 
Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  July,  1832,  vol.  xxii.  pp.  403-408. 

1832.  On  the  effect  of  a  long  and  helical  wire  in  increasing  the  intensity  of  a  galvanic 

current  from  a  single  element.  (Conclusion  of  preceding  paper.)  Silliman's 
Am.  Jour.  Sci.  July,  1B32,  vol.  xxii.  p.  408.  Becquerel's  Traite  experimen- 
tal de  VElectricite,  etc.  1837,  vol.  v.  pp.  231,  232. 

1833.  Fifth  Abstract  of  Meteorological  Records  of  the  State  of  New  York  for  1832. 

(In  conjunction  with  Dr.  T.  Romeyn  Beck.)  Annual  Report  of  Regents  of 
University,  to  the  Legislature  of  New  York. — Albany,  1833. 

1835.  Contributions  to  Electricity  and  Magnetism.  No.  I.  Description  of  a  Gal- 
vanic Battery  for  producing  Electricity  of  different  intensities.  (Read  Jan. 
14.)  Transactions  Am.  Philosoph.  Society,  vol.  v.  n.  s.  pp.  217-222.  Stur- 
geon's Annals  of  Electricity,  etc.  vol.  i.  pp.  277-281. 

1835.  Contributions  to  Electricity  and  Magnetism.  No.  II.  On  the  influence  of  a 
Spiral  Conductor  in  increasing  the  intensity  of  Electricity  from  a  Galvanic 
arrangement  of  a  single  Pair,  etc.  (Read  Feb.  6.)  Trans.  Amer.  Phil.  Soc. 
vol.  v.  n.  s.  pp.  223-232.  Sturgeon's  Annals  of  Electricity,  etc.  vol.  i.  pp. 
282-290.  Taylor's  Scientific  Memoirs,  vol.  i.  pp.  540-547. 

1835.  Facts  in  reference  to  the  Spark,  etc.  from  a  long  Conductor  uniting  the  poles 
of  a  Galvanic  Battery.  Journal  of  Franklin  Institute,  Mar.  1835,  vol. 
xv.  pp.  169,  170.  Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  July,  1835,  vol.  xxviii.  pp. 
327-331. 

1837.  A  Notice  of  Electrical  Researches,  particularly  in  regard  to  the  "lateral  dis- 

charge." (Read  before  the  British  Association  at  Liverpool,  Sept.  1837.) 
Report  Brit.  Assoc.  1837.  Part  II.  pp.  22-24.  Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci. 
April,  1838,  vol.  xxxiv.  pp.  16-19. 

1838.  A  Letter  on  the  production  directly  from  ordinary  Electricity  of  Currents  by 

Induction,  analogous  to  those  obtained  from  Galvanism.  (Read  to  Philo- 
soph. Society,  May  4.)  Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  i.  p.  14. 
1838.  Contributions  to  Electricity  and  Magnetism.  No.  III.  On  Electro-dynamic 
Induction.  (Read  Nov.  2.)  Trans.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  vi.  n.  s.  pp.  303- 
337.  Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  Jan.  1840,  vol.  xxxviii.  pp.  209-243.  Stur- 
geon's Annals  of  Electricity,  etc.  vol.  iv.  pp.  281-310.  L.  E.  D.  Phil.  Mag. 
Mar.  1840,  vol.  xvi.  pp.  200-210:  pp.  254-265:  pp.  551-562.  Becquerel's 
Traite  experimental  de  VElectricite,  etc.  vol.  v.  pp.  87-107.  Annales  de 
Chimie  et  de  Physique,  Dec.  1841,  3d  series  :  vol.  iii.  pp.  394-407.  Poggen- 
dorff 's  Annalen  der  Physik  und  Chemie.  Supplemental  vol.  i.  (Nach  Band  li. ) 
1842,  pp.  282-312. 


SCIENTIFIC    PAPERS   OF   HENKY.  367 

1839.  A  novel  phenomenon  of  Capillary  action:  the  transmission  of  Mercury  through 

Lead.      (Kead  Mar.  15.)      Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  i.  pp.  82,  83. 

Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  Dec.  1839,  vol.  xxxviii.  pp.  180,  181.     Biblioth. 

Universelle,  vol.  xxix.  pp.  175,  176.     Liebig's  Annalen  der  Chemie,  etc.  vol. 

xl.  pp.  182,  183. 
1839.  A  Letter  on  two  distinct  kinds  of  dynamic  Induction  by  a  Galvanic  current. 

(Read  to  Phil.  Soc.  Oct.  18.)     Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  i.  pp.  134- 

136. 

1839.  Observations  of  Meteors  made  Nov.  25,  1835,  simultaneously  at  Princeton  and 

at  Philadelphia,  for  determining  their  difference  of  Longitude.  (In  con- 
junction with  Professors  A.  D.  Bache,  S.  Alexander,  and  J.  P.  Espy.) 
Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  Dec.  21,  vol.  i.  pp.  162,  163.  Silliman's  Am. 
Jour.  Sci.  Oct.  1840,  vol.  xxxix.  pp.  372,  373. 

1840.  Contributions  to  Electricity  and  Magnetism.     No.  IV.     On  Electro-dynamic 

Induction.  (Read  June  19.)  Trans.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  viii.  n.  s.  pp.  1-18. 
Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  April,  1841,  vol.  xli.  pp.  117-152.  Sturgeon's 
Annals  Electricity,  etc.  vol.  vii.  pp.  21-56.  L.  E.  D.  Phil.  Mag.  June,  1841, 
vol.  xviii.  pp.  482-514.  Annales  de  Chim.  et  de  Phys.  Dec.  1841,  3d  ser.  vol. 
iii.  pp.  407-436.  Poggendorff's  Annal.  der  Phys.  und  Chem.  1841,  vol.  liv. 
pp.  84-98. 

1840.  Contributions  to  Electricity  and  Magnetism.  No.  IV, — continued.  Theoret- 
ical Considerations  relating  to  Electro-dynamic  Induction.  (Read  Nov.  20.) 
Trans.  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  viii.  n.  s.  pp.  18-35. 

1840.  On  the  production  of  a  reciprocating  motion  by  the  repulsion  in  the  consecu- 
tive parts  of  a  conductor  through  which  a  galvanic  current  is  passing. 
(Read  Nov.  20.)  Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  i.  p.  301. 

1840.  Electricity  from  heated  Water.     (Read  Dec.  18. )     Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc. 
.     vol.  i.  pp.  322-324. 

1841.  Report  of  the  Tenth  Meeting  of  the  British  Association,  etc.     Princeton  Review, 

Jan.  1841,  vol.  xiii.  pp.  132-149. 

1841.  Description  of  a  simple  and  inexpensive  form  of  Heliostat.  (Read  Sept.  17.) 
Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  ii.  pp.  97,  98. 

1841.  Observations  on  the  effects  of  a  Thunderstorm  which  visited  Princeton  on  the 

evening  of  the  14th  of  July,  1841.  (Read  Nov.  5.)  Proceedings  Am.  Phil. 
Soc.  vol.  ii.  pp.  111-116. 

1842.  R6sum6  des  Recherches  faits  sur  les  Courants  d'lnduction.    Archives  de  I'Elec- 

tricit6,  1842,  vol.  ii.  pp.  348-392. 

1842.  Contributions  to  Electricity  and  Magnetism.      No.  V.     On  Electro-dynamic 

Induction:  and  on  the  oscillatory  discharge.  (Read  June  17.)  Proceed- 
ings Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  ii.  pp.  193-196. 

1843.  On  Phosphorogenic  Emanation.     (Read  May  26.)     Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc. 

vol.  iii.  pp.  38-44.     Walker's  Electrical  Magazine,  1845,  vol.  i.  pp.  444-450. 
1843.  On  a  new  Method  of  determining  the  Velocity  of  Projectiles.    (Read  May  30.) 
Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  iii.  pp.  165-167.     Walker's  Electrical  Maga- 
zine, 1845,  vol.  i.  pp.  350-352. 


368  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HEXRY. 

1843.  Nouvelles  Experiences  sur  1'Induction  de'veloppe'e  par  1'Electricite'  ordinaire. 

(Translated.)      Archives  de  V  Electrwite,  1843,  vol.  iii.  pp.  484-488. 
1843.  On  the  application  of  Melloni's  thermo-electric  apparatus  to  Meteorological 

purposes.     (Presented  orally  Nov.  3. )     Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  iv. 

p.  22. 

1843.  Theory  of  the  discharge  of  the  Leyden  jar.     (Presented  Nov.  3.)     Proceed- 

ings Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  iv.  pp.  22,  23. 

1844.  On  the  Cohesion  of  Liquids.     (Read  April  5.)     Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc. 

vol.  iv.  pp.  56,  57.     Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  Oct.  1844,  vol.  xlviii.  pp. 
215,  216. 

1844.  On  the  Cohesion  of  Liquids, — continued.     (Read  May  17.)     Proceedings  Am. 

Phil.  Soc.  vol.  iv.  pp.  84,  85.     Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  Oct.  1844,  vol. 

xlviii.  pp.  216,  217.     L.  E.  D.  Phil.  Mag.  June,  1845,  vol.  xxvi.  pp.  541- 

543. 
1844.  Syllabus  of  Lectures  on  Physics.     Princeton,  8vo.  1844.     Republished  in  part 

in  Smithsonian  Report,  1856,  pp.  187-220. 

1844.  Classification  and  Sources  of  Mechanical  Power.     (Read  Dec.  20.)     Proceed- 

ings. Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  iv.  pp.  127-129. 

1845.  On  the  Coast  Survey.     Princeton  Review,  April,  1845,  vol.  xvii.  pp.  321-344. 

1845.  On  the  relative  Radiation  of  Heat  by  the  Solar  Spots.  (Read  June  20.)  Pro- 
ceedings Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  iv.  pp.  173-176.  Brief  Abstract  in  Report 
Brit.  Assoc.  1845,  Part  II.  p.  6.  Walker's  Electrical  Magazine,  1846,  vol.  ii. 
pp.  321-324.  Froriep's  Neue  Notizen,  etc.  No.  826,  1846,  vol.  xxxviii.  col. 
179-182.  Poggendorff's  Annalen  der  Physik  und  Chemie,  1846,  vol.  Ixviii. 
pp.  102-104. 

1845.  On  the  Capillarity  of  Metals.  (Read  June  20.)  Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc. 
vol.  iv.  pp.  176-178.  Froriep's  Neue  Notizen,  etc.  No.  855,  1846,  vol. 
xxxviii.  col.  167-169.  Poggendorff's  Annalen  der  Physik  und  Chemie.  2d 
supplemental  vol.  (Nach  Band  Ixxii.)  1848,  pp.  358-361. 

1845.  On  the  Protection  of  Buildings  from  Lightning.  (Read  June  20.)  Proceed- 
ings Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  iv.  p.  179.  Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  1846,  vol.  ii.  pp. 
405, 406.  Walker's  Electrical  Magazine,  1846,  vol.  ii.  pp.  324-326.  Froriep's 
Neue  Notizen,  etc.  No.  823, 1846,  vol.  xxxviii.  col.  133, 134. 

1845.  An  account  of  peculiar  effects  on  a  house  struck  by  Lightning.  (Read  June 
20. )  Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  i v.  p.  180. 

1845.  On  Color  Blindness.  Princeton  Review,  July,  1845,  vol.  xvii.  pp.  483-489. 
Smithsonian  Report,  1877,  pp.  196-200. 

1845.  On  the  discharge  of  Electricity  through  a  long  wire,  etc.     (Read  Nov.  7.) 

Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  iv.  pp.  208, 209. 

1846.  Repetition  of  Faraday's  Experiment  on  the  Polarization  of  Liquids  under  the 

influence  of  a  galvanic  current.    (Read  Jan.  16. )    Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc. 
vol.  iv.  pp.  229, 230. 

1846.  Extrait  d'une  Lettre  a  M.  de  la  Rive,  sur  les  T^l^graphes  Electriques  dans  les 
Etats-Unis  de  1'Ame'rique.  Biblioth.  Universelle.  Archives,  1846,  vol.  ii. 
p.  178. 


SCIENTIFIC    PAPERS   OF   HENRY.  369 

1846.  Report  on  the  action  of  Electricity  on  the  Telegraph  Wires  :  and  Telegraph- 
poles  struck  by  Lightning.  (Read  June  19.)  Proceedings  Am,  Phil.  Soc. 
vol.  5v.  pp.  260-268.  Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  1847,  vol.  iii.  pp.  25-32. 
L.  E.  D.  Phil.  Mag.  1847,  vol.  xxx.  pp.  186-194.  Agricultural  Report, 
Commr.  Pats.  1859,  pp.  509-511. 

1846.  On  the  ball  supported  by  a  water  jet :  also  experiments  in  regard  to  the 
"interference"  of  heat.  (Read  Oct.  16.)  Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol. 
iv.  p.  285. 

1846.  On  the  corpuscular  hypothesis  of  the  constitution  of  Matter.  (Read  Nov.  6.) 
Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  iv.  pp.  287-290. 

1846.  On  the  Height  of  Aurorse.     (Read  Dec.  3.)     Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol. 

iv.  p.  370. 

1847.  Programme    of  Organization   of  the   Smithsonian   Institution.      (Presented 

to  the  Board  of  Regents,  Dec.  8,  1847.)  Smithsonian  Report,  1847,  pp. 
120-132. 

1847.  Article  on    "Magnetism"  for  the  Encyclopaedia  Americana.      Encycl.  Amer. 

1847,  vol.  xiv.  pp.  412-426. 

1848.  On  Heat. — A  Thermal  Telescope.     Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  Jan.  1848,  vol.  v. 

pp.  113,  114. 

1848.  Explanations  and  Illustrations  of  the  Plan  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 

Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  Nov.  1848,  vol.  vi.  pp.  305-317. 

1849.  On  the  Radiation  of  Heat.     (Read  Oct.  19. )     Proceedings  Am.  Phil.  Soc.  vol.  v. 

p.  108. 

1850.  Analysis  of  the  dynamic  phenomena  of  the  Leyden  jar.     Proceedings  Amer. 

Association,  Aug.  1850,  pp.  377,  378. 

1851.  On  the  Limit  of  Perceptibility  of  a  direct  and  reflected  Sound.     Proceedings 

Amer.  Association,  May,  1851,  pp.  42,  43. 

1851.  On  the  Theory  of  the  so-called  Imponderables.  Proceedings  Amer.  Association, 
Aug.  1851,  pp.  84-91. 

1853.  Address  before  the  Metropolitan  Mechanics'  Institute,  "Washington.     (Deliv- 

ered March  19.)     8vo.  Washington,  1853,  19  pp. 

1854.  Meteorological  Tables  of  mean  diurnal  variations,  etc. — Prepared  as  an  Appen- 

dix to  Mr.  Russell's  Lectures   on  Meteorology.      Smithsonian  Report  for 

1854,  pp.  215-223. 

1854.  Thoughts  on  Education ;  an  Introductory  Discourse  before  the  Association  for 

the  Advancement  of  Education.  (Delivered  Dec.  28.)  Proceedings  Assoc. 
Adv.  Education,  4th  Session,  1854,  pp.  17-31.  Amer.  Jour,  of  Education, 
Aug.  1855,  vol.  i.  pp.  17-31. 

1855.  On  the  mode  of  Testing  Building  Materials,  etc.     Proceedings  Am.  Assoc.  Aug. 

1855,  pp.  102-112.     Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  July,  1856,  vol.  xxii.  pp.  30- 
38 ;  Smithsonian  Report,  1856,  pp.  303-310. 

1855.  On  the  effect  of  mingling  Radiating  Substances  with  Combustible  Materials : 
(or  incombustible  bodies  with  fuel.)     Proceedings  Am.  Assoc.  Aug.  1855,  pp. 
112-116. 
24 


370  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

1855.  Account  of  Experiments  on  the  alleged  spontaneous  separation  of  Alcohol  and 

Water.     Proceed.  Am.  Assoc.  Aug.  1855,  pp.  140-144. 
1855.  On  the  Induction  of  Electrical  Currents.     (Read  Sept.  11.)     Proceedings  Am. 

Academy  of  Arts,  etc.  vol.  iii.  p.  198. 

1855.  Note  on  the  Gyroscope.    Appendix  to  Lecture  by  Professor  E.  S.  Snell.    Smith- 
sonian Report,  1855,  p.  190. 
1855.  Remarks  on  Rain-fall  at  varying  elevations.     Smithsonian  Report,  1855,  pp. 

213,  214. 
1855.  Directions  for  Meteorological  Observations.     (In  conjunction  with  Professor 

A.  Guyot.)     Smithsonian  Report,  1855,  pp.  215-244. 
1855.  Circular  of  Inquiries   relative   to  Earthquakes.      Smithsonian  Report,  1855, 

p.  245. 
1855.  Instructions  for  Observations  of  the  Aurora.     Smithsonian  Report,  1855,  pp. 

247-250. 
1855.  On  Green's  Standard  Barometer  for  the  Smithsonian  Institution.    Smithsonian 

Report,  1855,  pp.  251-258. 
1855.  Circular  of  Instructions  on  Registering  the  periodical  phenomena  of  animal 

and  vegetable  life.     Smithsonian  Report,  1855,  pp.  259-263. 

1855.  Meteorology  in  its  connection  with  Agriculture,  Part  I.     Agricultural  Report 

of  Commr.  Pats.  1855,  pp.  357-394. 

1856.  On  Acoustics  applied  to  Public  Buildings.     Proceedings  Am.  Assoc.  Aug.  1856, 

pp.  119-135.     Smithsonian  Report,  1856,  pp.  221-234.     Canadian  Journal, 
etc.  Mar.  1857,  vol.  ii.  n.  s.  pp.  130-140. 

1856.  Account  of  a  large  Sulphuric-acid  Barometer  in  the  Hall  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution  Building.  Proceedings  Am.  Assoc.  Aug.  1856,  pp.  135-138. 

1856.  Meteorology  in  its  connection  with  Agriculture,  Part  II.      General  Atmos- 

pheric Conditions.    Agricultural  Report  of   Commr.  Pats.  1856,  pp.  455- 
492. 

1857.  Communication  to  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  rela- 

tive to  a  publication  by  Professor  Morse.      Smithsonian  Report,  1857,  pp. 
85-88. 

1857.  Statement  in  relation  to  the  history  of  the  Electro-magnetic  Telegraph.  Smith- 
sonian Report,  1857,  pp.  99-106. 

1857.  Meteorology  in  its  connection  with  Agriculture,  Part  III.    Terrestrial  Physics, 

and  Temperature.      Agricultural  Report  of  Commr.  Pats.  1857,  pp.  419- 
506. 

1858.  Meteorology  in  its  connection  with  Agriculture,  Part  IV.    Atmospheric  Vapor, 

and  Currents.     Agricultural  Report  of  Commr.  Pats.  1858,  pp.  429-493. 

1859.  On  Meteorology.     Canadian  Naturalist  and  Geologist,  Aug.  1859,  vol.  iv.  pp. 

289-291. 

1859.  Application  of  the  Telegraph  to  the  Prediction  of  Changes  of  the  Weather. 
(Read  Aug.  9.)  Proceedings  Am.  Academy  of  Arts,  etc.  vol.  iv.  pp.  271-275. 

1859.  Meteorology  in  its  connection  with  Agriculture,  Part  V.  Atmospheric  Elec- 
tricity. Agricultural  Report  of  Commr.  Pats.  1859,  pp.  461-508. 


SCIENTIFIC    PAPERS   OF    HENRY.  371 

1859.  On  the  Protection  of  Buildings  from  the  effects  of  Lightning.    Agricult.  Report, 

Com.  Pat.  1859,  pp.  511-524. 

1860.  On  the  Conservation  of  Force.     Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  July,  1860,  vol.  xxx. 

pp.  32-41. 

1860.  Circular  to  Officers   of  Hudson's  Bay  Company  (April  20.)      Smithsonian 
MiscelL  Collections,  No.  137,  vol.  viii.  pp.  1-4. 

1860.  Description    of   Smithsonian  Anemometer.      Smithsonian  Report,   1860,  pp. 

414-416. 

1861.  Letter  on  Aeronautics  to  Mr.  T.  S.  C.  Lowe.     (March  11.)     Smithsonian  Re- 

port, 1860,  pp.  118,  119. 

1861.  Article  on   "Magnetism"  for  the  American  Cyclopaedia.     Edited  by  Kipley 
and  Dana.     Am.  Cycl.  1861,  vol.  xi.  pp.  61-63. 

1861.  Article  on  "Meteorology"  for  the  American  Cyclopaedia.     Edited  by  Ripley 

and  Dana.     Am.  Cycl.  1861,  vol.  xi.  pp.  414-420. 

1862.  Report  of  the  Light-House  Board  on  the  proposed  Transfer  of  the  Lights  to 

the  Navy  Department.     Exec.  Docts.  37th  Cong.  2d  Sess.  Senate,  Mis.  Doc. 
No.  61,  pp.  2-18. 

1863.  Letter  to  Orlando  Meads,  Chairman  of  Committee  of  Trustees,  etc.  on  the 

semi-centennial   celebration   of  the  Albany  Academy.      (Dated  June  23.) 
Proceedings  on  Semi- Centennial  Anniversary,  etc.  pp.  66,  67. 

1863.  Introduction  to  Memoir  by  Professor  J.  Plateau.     On  the  Figures  of  Equili- 

brium of  a  Liquid  Mass,  etc.     Smithsonian  Report,  1863,  pp.  207,  208. 

1864.  On  Materials  for  Combustion  in  Lamps  of  Light-Houses.     (Read  Jan.  12, 

before  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences.)    [Not  published  in  Proceed- 
ings.] 

1865.  Report  relative  to  the  Fire  at  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  occurring  Jan.  24th, 

1865.     (In  conjunction  with  Mayor  Richard  Wallach.)     Presented  to  the 
Regents  February,  1865.     Smithsonian  Report,  1864,  pp.  117-120. 
1865.  Queries  relative  to  Tornadoes  :  directions  to  observers.     Smithsonian  MiscelL 
Collections,  No.  190,  vol.  x.  pp.  1-4. 

1865.  Remarks  on  the  Meteorology  of  the  United  States.     Smithsonian  Report,  1865, 
pp.  50-59. 

1865.  Remarks  on  Ventilation :  especially  with  reference  to  the  U.  S.  Capitol.    Smith- 

sonian Report,  1865,  pp.  67,  68. 

1866.  Report  on  the  Warming  and  Ventilating  of  the  U.  S.  Capitol.      (May  4.) 

Exec.  Doc.  No.  100.     H.  of  Rep.  39th  Cong.  1st  Sess.  pp.  4-6. 
1866.  Report  of  Building  Committee  on  Repairs  to  Sm.  Inst.  building  from  Fire. 

(In  conjunction  with  Genl.  Richard  Delafield,  and  Mayor  Richard  Wallach.) 

Presented  to  Regents  April  28.     Smithsonian  Report,  1865,  pp.  111-114. 
1866.  On  the  aboriginal  Migration  of  the  American  races.     Appendix  to  paper  by 

F.  Von  Hellwald.  Smithsonian  Report,  1866,  pp.  344,  345. 
1866.  Remarks  on  Vitality.  Smithsonian  Report,  1866,  pp.  386-388. 
1866.  Meteorological  Notes.  To  Correspondents.  Smithsonian  Report,  1866,  pp. 

403-412. 


372  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

1866.  Investigations  in  regard  to  Sound.     (Read  Aug.  10,  before  the  National  Acad- 

emy of  Sciences.)     [Not  published  in  Proceedings.] 

1867.  Circular  relating  to  Collections  in  Archaeology  and  Ethnology.     (Jan.  15.) 

Smithsonian  Miscell.  Collections,  No.  205,  vol.  viii.  pp.  1, 2. 
1867.  Circular   relative    to   Exchanges.      (May    16.)      Smithsonian    Report,    1867, 

p.  71. 
1867.  Suggestions  relative  to  Objects  of  Scientific  Investigation  in  Russian  America. 

(May  27.)     Smithsonian  Miscell.  Collections,  No.  207,  vol.  viii.  pp.  1-7. 
1867.  Notice  of  Peltier.     Smithsonian  Report,  1867,  p.  158. 

1867.  Notes  on  Atmospheric  Electricity.  To  Correspondents.  Smithsonian  Report, 
1867,  pp.  320-323. 

1867.  On  the  Penetration  of  Sound.     (Read  Jan.  24,  before  the  National  Academy 

of  Sciences.    [Not  published  in  Proceedings.] 

1868.  Appendix  to  a  Notice  of  Schoenbein.     Smithsonian  Report,  1868,  pp.  189-192. 

1868.  On  the  Rain-fall  of  the  United  States.     (Read  Aug.  25,  before  the  National 

Academy  of  Sciences.)     [Not  published  in  Proceedings.] 

1869.  Memoir  of  Alexander  Dallas  Bache.     (Read  April  16.)    Biographical  Memoirs 

ofNat.Acad.  Sci.  vol.  i.  pp.  181-212.     Smithsonian  Report,  1870,  pp.  91- 
116. 

1870.  Letter.     On  a  Physical  Observatory.     (Dec.  29.)     Smithsonian  Report,  1870, 

pp.  141-144. 

1871.  Observations  on  the  Rain-fall  of  the  United  States.     Proceedings  California 

Academy  of  Sciences,  vol.  iv.  p.  185. 

1871.  Instructions  for  Observations  of  Thunder  Storms.  Smithsonian  Miscell.  Col- 
lections, No.  235,  vol.  x.  p.  1. 

1871.  Circular  relative  to  Heights.  For  a  topographic  chart  of  N.  America.  Smith- 
sonian Miscell.  Collections,  No.  236,  vol.  x.  p.  1. 

1871.  Directions  for  constructing  Lightning-Rods.  Smithsonian  Miscell.  Collections, 
No.  2.37,  vol.  x.  pp.  1-3.  Silliman's  Am.  Jour.  Sci.  Nov.  1871,  vol.  ii.  pp. 
344-346. 

1871.  Letter  to  Capt.  C.  F.  Hall,  in  regard  to  the  Scientific  Operations  of  the  Expe- 
dition toward  the  North  Pole.  (June  9.)  Smithsonian  Report,  1871,  pp. 
364-366. 

1871.  Suggestions  as  to  Meteorological  Observations;  during  the  Expedition  toward 
the  North  Pole.  Smithsonian  Report,  1871,  pp.  372-379. 

1871.  Meteorological  Notes  and  Remarks.  Smithsonian  Report,  1871,  pp.  452,  455, 
456,  459,  461. 

1871.  Effect  of  the  Moon  on  the  Weather.     Smithsonian  Report,  1871,  pp.  460,  461. 

1871.  Anniversary  Address  as  President  of  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Washington. 

(Delivered  Nov.  18.)     Bulletin  Phil.  Soc.  Washington,  vol.  i.  pp.  5-14. 

1872.  Remarks  on  Cosmical  Theories  of  Electricity  and  Magnetism :  an  Appendix 

to  a  Memoir  by  Professor  G.  B.  Donati.     Smithsonian  Report,  1872,  pp. 
307-309. 


SCIENTIFIC    PAPERS    OF    HENRY.  373 

1872.  On  certain  Abnormal  Phenomena  of  Sound,  in  connection  with  Fog-signals. 

(Read  Dec.  11.)     Bulletin  Phil.  Soc.  Washington,  vol.  i.  p.  65,  and  Appendix 
ix.  8  pp. 

1873.  Letter  to  John  C.  Green,  Esq.  of  New  York,  on   his  establishment  of  the 

"Henry  Chair  of  Physics"   in  the  College  of  New  Jersey.      Washington 
Daily  Chronicle,  Mar.  21,  1873. 

1873.  On  Telegraphic  Announcements  of  Astronomical  Discoveries.    (May.)    Smith- 
sonian Miscell.  Collections,  No.  263,  vol.  xii.  pp.  1-4. 

1873.  Remarks  on  the  Light-House  Service.     Report  of  Light-House  Board,  1873, 

pp.  3-7. 

1874.  Report   of   Investigations    relative    to   Fog-Signals,    and    certain    abnormal 

phenomena  of  Sound.     Report  of  Light-House  Board,  1874.    Appendix,  pp. 
83-117. 

1874.  Memoir  of  Joseph  Saxton.      (Read  Oct.  4.)     Biographical  Memoirs  of  Nat. 
Acad.  Sci.  vol.  i.  pp.  287-316. 

1874.  Remarks  on  Recent  Earthquakes  in  North  Carolina.      Smithsonian  Report, 

1874,  pp.  259,  260. 

1875.  Remarks  on  the  Light-House  Service.    Report  of  Light-House  Board,  1875, 

pp.  5-8. 

1875.  An  account  of  investigations  relative  to  Illuminating  Materials.      Report  of 
Light-House  Board,  1875.     Appendix,  pp.  86-103. 

1875.  Investigations  relative  to  Sound.     Report  of  Light-House  Board,  1875.    Appen- 
dix, pp.  104-126. 

1875.  On  the  Organization  of  Local  Scientific  Societies.     Smithsonian  Report,  1875, 

pp.  217-219. 

1876.  Article  on  "Fog,"  for  Johnson's  Universal  Cyclopaedia.     Edited  by  Dr.  Bar- 

nard.    J.  Univ.  Cycl.  vol.  ii.  pp.  187, 188. 

1876.  Article  on  "Fog-Signals"  for  Johnson's  Universal  Cyclopaedia.     Edited  by 
Dr.  Barnard.     J.  Univ.  Cycl.  vol.  ii.  pp.  188-190. 

1876.  Article  on  "  Hygrometry  "  for  Johnson's  Universal  Cyclopaedia.     Edited  by 
Dr.  Barnard.     J.  Univ.  Cycl.  vol.  ii.  pp.  1072-1074. 

1876.  Letter  to  Rev.  S.  B.  Dod ;  on  researches  made  at  Princeton.     (Dated  Dec.  4.) 

Princeton  Memorial,  May  19, 1878,  8vo.  N.  Y.  pp.  51-70. 

1877.  Article  on  "Lightning"  for  Johnson's  Universal  Cyclopaedia.     Edited  by  Dr. 

Barnard.     J.  Univ.  Cycl.  vol.  iii.  pp.  32-36. 

1877.  Article  on  "  Lightning-Rods  "  for  Johnson's  Universal  Cyclopaedia.     Edited  by 

Dr.  Barnard.     J.  Univ.  Cycl.  vol.  iii.  pp.  36,  37. 
1877.  Remarks  on  the  Light-House  Service.     Report  of  Light-House  Board,  1877, 

pp.  3-7. 
1877.  Report  of  Operations  relative  to  Fog-Signals.     Report  of  Light-House  Board, 

1877.     Appendix,  pp.  61-72. 
1877.  Address  before  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Washington.     Bulletin  Phil.  Soe. 

Washington,  vol.  ii.  pp.  162-174. 


374  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

1878.  On  Thunder  Storms.     (Letter  Oct.  13.)     Journal  Am.  Electrical  Society,  1878, 

vol.  ii.  pp.  37-44. 
1878.  Letter  to  Joseph  Patterson,  Esq.  of  Philadelphia,  on   the    "Joseph  Henry 

Fund."     (Dated  Jan.  10.)     Public  Ledger  and  Transcript,  May  14,  1878. 

The  Press  :  of  Philadelphia,  May  14,  1878. 
1878.  Report  on  the  Ventilation  of  the  Hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives.    (Jan. 

26.)     45th  Cong.  2nd  Sess.  H.  R.  Report,  No.  119,  pp.  1-6. 
1878.  Report  on  the  Use  of  the  Polariscope  in  Saccharimetry.     (Feb.  5.)     Mis.  Doc. 

45th  Cong.  2nd  Sess.  H.  R. 
1878.  Opening  Address  before  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences.     (Read  April  16.) 

Proceedings  Nat.  Acad.  Sci.  vol.  i.  part  2,  pp.  127,  128. 
1878.  Closing  Address  before  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences.     (Read  April  19.) 

Proceedings  Nat.  Acad.  Sci.  vol.  i.  part  2,  pp.  129, 130. 


A.  1  A  O  P      _ 


SUPPLEMENT. 


NOTE  A. 

Page. 

HENRY'S  FIRST  EXPERIMENTS 375 

NOTE  B. 

" INTENSITY "  AND  ' '  QUANTITY "  CURRENTS 376 

NOTE  C. 

THE   ELECTRO-MAGNETIC   TELEGRAPH 380 

NOTE  D. 
HENRY'S  MULTIPLE-COIL  MAGNET 390 

NOTE  E. 
ABSTRACT  OF  PAPER  ON  SELF-INDUCTION 394 

NOTE  F. 
OSCILLATION  OF  ELECTRICAL  DISCHARGE , 396 

NOTE  G. 
WHEATSTONE'S  CHRONOSCOPE 398 

NOTE  H. 
HENRY'S  "PROGRAMME  OF  ORGANIZATION" 399 

NOTE  I. 
ELECTION  OF  THE  FIRST  "SECRETARY" 406 

NOTE  J. 
HENRY'S  PURPOSE  OF  ADMINISTRATION 409 

NOTE  K. 
STRUGGLE  WITH  THE  LIBRARY  SCHEME 410 

NOTE  L. 
DISTRIBUTION  OF  MUSEUM  MATERIAL 418 

NOTE  M. 
OVERFLOWING  CONDITION  OF  THE  MUSEUM 419 

NOTE  N. 

INVESTIGATION  OF  ILLUMINANTS 421 

(375) 


SUPPLEMENTARY   NOTES. 


Note  A.     (From  p.  209.) 
HENRY'S  FIRST  EXPERIMENTS. 

From  the  time  of  leaving  the  Albany  Academy  young  Henry 
exhibited  a  great  fondness  for  chemical  experimentation.  The 
wonderful  transformations  of  familiar  substances  under  the  magic 
spell  of  decomposing  re-actions  and  combining  affinities,  seemed  to 
his  ardent  imagination  to  offer  a  possible  clue  to  the  mystery  of 
matter  and  of  force.  His  mental  activity  sought  an  outlet  in  assist- 
ing to  establish  the  "  Albany  Lyceum." 

Orlando  Meads,  LL.D.  in  the  "Annual  Address"  read  before 
the  Albany  Institute,  May  25, 1871,  thus  records  his  early  reminis- 
cences : 

"When  a  boy  in  the  Albany  Academy  in  1823  and  1824,  it  was 
my  pleasure  and  privilege,  when  released  from  recitations,  to  resort 
to  the  chemical  laboratory  and  lecture  room.  There  might  be 
found  from  day  to  day  through  the  winter,  earnestly  engaged  in 
experiments  upon  steam  and  upon  a  small  steam-engine,  and  in 
chemical  and  other  scientific  investigations,  two  young  men — both 
active  members  of  the  '  Lyceum/  then  very  different  in  their  exter- 
nal circumstances  and  prospects  in  life,  but  of  kindred  tastes  and 
sympathies;  the  one  was  Richard  Yarick  DeWitt,  the  other  was 
Joseph  Henry,  as  yet  unknown  to  fame,  but  already  giving  promise 
of  those  rare  qualities  of  mind  and  character  which  have  since  raised 
him  to  the  very  first  rank  among  the  experimental  philosophers  of 
his  time.  Chemistry  at  that  time  was  exciting  great  interest,  and 
Dr.  Beck's  courses  of  chemical  lectures,  conducted  every  winter  in 
the  lecture  room  of  the  Academy,  were  attended  not  only  by  the 
students,  but  by  all  that  was  most  intelligent  and  fashionable  in  the 
city.  Henry,  who  had  been  formerly  a  pupil  in  the  Academy,  was 
then  Dr.  Beck's  chemical  assistant,  and  already  an  admirable  ex- 
perimentalist, and  he  availed  himself  to  the  utmost  of  the  advan- 
tages thus  afforded,  of  prosecuting  his  investigations  in  chemistry, 
electricity,  and  galvanism."  * 

*  Transactions  of  Albany  Institute,  1872,  vol.  vii.  pp.  20,  21. 

(375) 


376  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

Note  B.     (From  p.  £27.} 
"INTENSITY"  AND  "QUANTITY"  CURRENTS. 

Early  in  the  century,  the  eminent  chemist  Dr.  Thomas  Thomson 
endeavored  to  express  the  difference  between  mechanical  electricity 
and  chemical  electricity,  by  characterizing  the  former  as  possessing 
"intensity,"  and  the  latter  as  possessing  "quantity."  From  the 
increase  of  electrical  effects  with  the  multiplication  of  galvanic 
pairs  in  a  pile  or  battery,  Yolta  a  short  time  before  had  designated 
such  action  as  "electromotor"  force.  Dr.  Robert  Hare  in  1816 
devising  a  galvanic  battery  in  which  all  the  positive  elements  were 
directly  connected  together,  as  were  all  the  negative  elements,  (thus 
constituting  it  virtually  a  battery  of  a  single  pair,)  from  the  heating 
effects  obtained,  designated  the  action  as  "calori  motor"  force.  It 
appeared  quite  natural  afterward  to  distinguish  these  classes  of 
effects  by  the  old  terms  —  "intensity"  for  electromotive  force,  and 
"quantity"  for  calorimotive  force.  There  is  obviously  a  close  anal- 
ogy between  these  differences  of  condition  or  resultant,  and  the 
more  strongly  contrasted  conditions  of  mechanical  and  chemical 
electricity :  and  indeed  the  whole  may  be  said  to  lie  in  a  continuous 
series,  from  the  highest  "intensity"  with  minimum  quantity,  to  the 
greatest  "quantity"  with  minimum  intensity. 

Peltier  in  1836  published  a  paper  entitled  "Definition  of  the 
terms  electric  Quantity  and  Intensity,  derived  from  direct  experi- 
ment :"  in  which  he  showed  that  "  if  we  form  a  voltaic  pair  of  two 
fine  wires,  zinc  and  copper,  immersed  in  pure  water,  and  connected 
by  a  circuit  of  copper  wire  300  metres  (328  yards)  long,  although 
there  is  as  we  know  a  continuous  current  in  this  closed  circuit,  the 
copper  wire  if  placed  immediately  over  a  magnetic  needle,  will  not 
deflect  it  from  the  magnetic  meridian.  But  if  the  needle  be  sur- 
rounded by  a  "multiplicator"  formed  of  100  or  200  coils  of  the 
long  wire,  there  will  be  at  once  a  notable  deviation;  and  if  the 
number  of  coils  be  increased  to  2,000  the  deviation  may  extend  to 
60  degrees."  In  this  experiment,  as  the  primitive  current  has  not 
been  changed,  but  a  "  factitious  quantity "  only  has  been  produced 
by  conducting  it  2,000  times  around  the  magnetic  needle,  Peltier 
inferred  that  it  is  by  the  quantity  (and  by  no  other  modification) 
that  the  action  has  been  thus  enhanced;  and  that  it  is  therefore 
through  its  quantity  that  a  current  acts  on  the  magnetic  needle. 

"Taking  now  a  thermo-electric  pair,  zinc  and  copper,  of  five  square 
millimetres,  (the  129th  part  of  a  square  inch,)  and  heating  one  of 
the  solderings  to  40  degrees,  (104°  F.)  we  find  that  with  the  same 
closed  circuit  and  multiplicator  of  2,000  coils,  the  needle  will  not 
be  deflected;  the  electricity  will  not  pass.  But  if  we  retrench 


DISCOURSE    OF    W.  B.  TAYLOR: NOTES.  377 

1,800  coils,  (shortening  the  conductor  to  this  extent,)  the  galva- 
nometer now  of  200  coils  will  begin  to  give  notable  deviations.  If 
we  reduce  it  to  10  coils,  the  deflection  will  be  considerably  aug- 
mented. Finally,  if  we  reduce  it  to  a  single  coil  formed  of  a  strip 
of  copper  containing  as  much  substance  as  the  200  coils,  the  deflec- 
tion of  the  needle  may  amount  to  even  60  degrees.  The  quantity 
of  electricity  produced  in  this  experiment  by  the  thermo-electric 
pair  is  therefore  evidently  2,000  times  greater  than  that  of  the 
above  hydro-electric  pair,  since  we  obtain  the  same  deviation  with  a 
single  coil  as  with  the  factitious  quantity  given  by  the  reduplication 
of  the  coils.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  first  experiment  the  length 
of  the  conducting  wire  was  easily  traversed  by  the  hydro-electric 
current;  the  inertia  of  the  matter  was  overcome  without  difficulty 
and  without  appreciable  loss  of  the  current :  in  the  second  experi- 
ment this  inertia  could  not  be  overcome ;  the  power  of  action  was 
insufficient  and  it  was  necessary  to  reduce  the  circuit  to  a  very  small 
length  for  the  electricity  to  be  able  to  traverse  it."  From  these 
phenomena,  Peltier  argued  that  two  very  distinct  conditions  were 
presented,  which  should  not  be  confounded;  an  action  of  quantity 
without  resistance,  and  an  action  of  intensity  independent  of  quan- 
tity, capable  of  overcoming  considerable  resistance.* 

In  the  same  memoir  however,  Peltier  took  occasion  to  say  that  he 
considered  "dynamic  intensity"  an  inappropriate  expression  for 
electricity  in  movement;  and  that  the  term  if  retained  should  be 
used  to  designate  not  a  modification  of  the  electric  current,  but  a 
particular  disposition  of  the  electro-motor.  He  discarded  the  idea 
that  intensity  represents  a  peculiar  quality  in  the  current  itself;  but 
considered  the  action  as  only  the  consequence  of  increased  resistance 
offered  by  the  pile  to  a  backward  movement  or  return  of  the  electric 
flow:  or  in  other  words  that  intensity  regarded  as  the  power  of 
overcoming  obstacles  in  the  external  path,  results  from  the  greater 
obstacles  presented  by  the  battery  to  a  neutralization  by  retrogra- 
dation.f 

The  designations  under  discussion  have  been  largely  superseded 
in  modern  authorities  by  the  mathematical  treatment  of  the  subject, 
which  takes  cognizance  alone  of  the  ratio  between  electromotive 
force  and  resistance  differences  in  the  circuits.  Thus  Professor 
Jenkin,  speaking  of  the  two  classes  of  batteries,  remarks:  "With* a 
short  circuit  of  small  external  resistance,  we  can  increase  the  cur- 
rent by  increasing  the  size  of  cells,  or  what  is  equivalent  to  this,  by 
joining  several  cells  in  multiple  arc.  With  a  long  circuit  of  great 
external  resistance,  large  cells  (or  many  of  them  joined  in  multiple 

*  Annales  de  Chimie  et  de  Physique,  1836,  vol.  Ixiii.  pp.  245,  246. 
f  Same  work,  p.  253. 


378  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

arc)  will  fail  to  give  us  strong  currents,  but  we  may  increase  the 
current  by  joining  the  same  cells  in  series.  -  -  -  Cells  joined 
in  series  are  sometimes  described  as  joined  for  'intensity';  and  cells 
joined  in  multiple  arc,  as  joined  for  'quantity.'  These  terms  are 
remnants  of  an  erroneous  theory/7  * 

Again,  in  speaking  of  galvanometers  of  long  and  fine  coils,  as 
distinguished  from  those  of  short  and  thick  wire  coils,  he  says  :  "  In 
some  writings  these  two  classes  of  instruments  are  spoken  of  as 
adapted  to  two  different  classes  of  'currents'  instead  of  to  two 
different  classes  of  circuits.  The  instrument  with  numerous  turns 
of  fine  wire  is  said  to  indicate  'intensity'  currents,  the  other  class 
to  indicate  'quantity'  currents.  These  two  old  names  survive, 
although  the  fallacious  theory  which  assumed  that  there  were  two 
kinds  of  currents  is  extinct:  the  term  'intensity  galvanometer'  is 
used  to  signify  an  instrument  with  thousands  of  turns  of  thin  wire 
in  its  coil,  and  'quantity  galvanometer' — an  instrument  with  few 
turns  of  thick  wire.  I  shall  name  the  two  varieties  'long  coil' 
and  'short  coil'  galvanometers."  f 

Admirable  as  the  mathematical  theory  of  galvanic  circuits  has 
proved  itself  in  its  fullness  and  precision,  it  does  not  supply  us  with 
any  satisfactory  physical  conception  of  the  palpable  dynamic  differ- 
ence in  the  resultant  galvanic  currents.  The  old  terms,  whether 
accurate  or  not,  are  still  convenient  designations  of  the  acknowl- 
edged differences  when  reference  is  had  to  effects  rather  than  to 
arrangements.  J 

No  one  has  more  clearly  pointed  out  the  almost  constant  an- 
tithesis between  the  actions  of  "static"  and  "dynamic"  electricity, 
than  Peltier  himself.  "Static  electricity  is  duplex;  each  of  its 
forms  is  collected,  controlled,  and  maintained  separately;  being 
manifested  only  in  the  state  of  isolation  and  separation :  these  forms 
are  only  preserved  thus  separate  by  non-conducting  substances,  and 
their  action  endures  as  long  as  their  insulation.  Dynamic  electricity 
is  not  double;  it  cannot  be  separately  either  collected,  controlled, 
or  maintained ;  being  manifested  only  at  the  instant  of  its  trans- 
mission through  conductors  insulated  or  not:  for  continuous  effect 
it  is  necessary  that  the  producing  cause  be  continuous.  The  former 
collects  only  at  the  surface,  being  equally  or  unequally  distributed 
thereon  according  to  the  form  of  the  surface.  The  latter  is  propa- 

*  Electricity  and  Magnetism.  By  Fleeming  Jenkin.  16mo.  London  and  New 
York,  1873,  chap.  iv.  sect.  7,  p.  88. 

t  Same  work,  chap.  xiii.  sect.  3,  p.  190. 

J  Peltier  from  experiments  (the  results  of  which  he  has  detailed)  controverted 
the  universality  of  the  law  of  Ohm  and  Gauss,  that  galvanic  resistance  is  directly 
proportioned  to  the  length  of  the  conducting  wire,  and  inversely  proportional  to 
the  area  of  its  cross-section.  (Comptes  Rendus,  Oct.  12,  1835,  vol.  i.  pp.  203,  204.) 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR  I  —  NOTES.  379 

gated  equally  through  the  interior  of  conducting  bodies,  and  in 
proportion  to  their  mass  quite  irrespective  of  the  form  of  their 
surfaces.  Two  bodies  charged  with  the  same  kind  of  static  elec- 
tricity, exhibit  mutual  repulsion;  while  if  charged  with  contrary 
kinds  they  exhibit  mutual  attraction:  and  by  contact  establish  a 
complete  neutralization.  Two  currents  of  dynamic  electricity,  in 
the  same  direction  attract  each  other;  in  opposite  directions  repel 
each  other :  the  contact  of  their  conductors  produces  neither  divis- 
ion nor  neutralization ;  nor  does  any  external  communication  disturb 
the  current  in  a  closed  circuit.  A  body  charged  with  either  kind 
of  static  electricity  exerts  no  action  but  attraction  on  a  neutral 
body ;  it  induces  the  opposite  electrical  state  on  the  portion  of  a 
body  approached,  repelling  its  own  kind  to  the  further  extremity. 
A  current  of  dynamic  electricity  produces  various  inductive  effects 
on  neighboring  bodies,  as  transverse  magnetization,  instantaneous 
impulses  at  the  moment  of  any  change,,  chemical  actions,  ete.  The 
former  finds  an  equilibrium  of  its  two  forms  in  very  unequal 
degrees  in  different  metals.*  The  latter  finds  only  conducting 
differences  between  the  metals;  and  is  not  affected  by  other  cur- 
rents. The  former  is  feeble  or  intense  according  to  the  extent  of 
surface  on  which  it  is  accumulated ;  and  manifests  its  tension  by  a 
greater  or  less  attraction  or  repulsion.  The  latter  exhibits  the 
states  of  quantity — measured  by  the  deflection  of  the  galvano- 
meter, and  of  intensity  —  measured  by  the  power  of  overcoming 
resistance  or  of  traversing  poor  conductors."  f 

Characteristically  different  as  are  the  phenomena  thus  exhibited 
by  mechanical  and  chemical  electricities,  (to  distinguish  which  we 
have  unfortunately  no  satisfactory  expressions,)  almost  as  marked  — 
though  in  a  much  smaller  degree,  are  the  peculiarities  of  galvanism 
itself,  in  what  must  be  called  its  varying  states  of  tension.  And 
for  these  striking  differences,  Ohm's  celebrated  law  that  "the 
strength  of  the  current  is  proportional  to  the  electro-motive  force 
divided  by  the  conducting  resistance,"  affords  no  more  intelligible 
explanation  than  it  does  for  the  peculiar  deportment  of  so-called 
"static"  electricity.  Indeed  Ohm's  formula  represents  but  a  close 

*  Peltier  first  demonstrated  that  the  electric  capacity  of  the  metals  for  the 
same  kind  from  a  constant  source,  is  very  unequal :  thus  zinc  takes  and  retains 
more  positive  than  negative  electricity,  while  the  contrary  takes  place  with 
copper:  so  gold  is  more  apt  than  silver  or  platina  to  become  charged  with  posi- 
tive electricity.  (Oomples  Rendus,  1835,  vol.  i.  pp.  360  and  470.) 

t  Annales  de  Chimie  et  de  Physique,  1838,  vol.  Ixvii.  pp.  426-428.  The  title  of  this 
memoir  is  "  Experimental  researches  on  the  quantities  of  static  and  dynamic  action 
produced  by  the  oxidation  of  a  milligramme  of  zinc:"  and  the  author  arrives  at 
the  conclusion  that  the  static  effects  are  as  the  squares  of  the  dynamic  effects; 
or  conversely,  the  dynamic  as  the  square  roots  of  the  static,  (p.  446.) 


380  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

approximation  to  the  actual  facts  of  electrical  transmission;  and 
gives  us  no  account  of  the  remarkable  fact  discovered  by  Henry 
that  the  magnetizing  power  of  a  current  actually  increases  with  the 
length  of  the  conductor,  up  to  a  certain  point:  nor  of  his  other 
discovery,  the  "extra  current"  or  the  induction  of  a  current  upon 
itself.  Indeed  it  takes  no  cognizance  of  any  of  the  numerous  per- 
turbations dependent  on  the  m-sterious  re-actions  of  electrical 
"induction." 


Note  C.     (From  p. 

THE    ELECTRO-MAGNETIC    TELEGRAPH. 

From  among  living  eye-witnesses  of  Henry's  early  telegraphic 
experiments  in  the  years  1831  and  1832,  the  following  may  be 
cited : 

Dr.  Orlando  Meads,  a  former  student  of  the  Albany  Academy, 
in  an  anniversary  discourse  commemorating  the  fiftieth  year  of  its 
existence,  thus  referred  to  the  scenes  he  witnessed  a  third  of  a  cen- 
tury before :  "  The  older  students  of  the  Academy  in  the  years  1830, 
1831,  and  1832,  and  others  who  witnessed  his  experiments  which 
at  that  time  excited  so  much  interest  in  this  city,  will  remember  the 
long  coils  of  wire  which  ran  circuit  upon  circuit  for  more  than  a 
mile  in  length  around  one  of  the  upper  rooms  in  the  Academy,  for 
the  purpose  of  illustrating  the  fact  that  a  galvanic  current  could  be 
transmitted  through  its  whole  length  so  as  to  excite  a  magnet  at  the 
farther  end  of  the  line,  and  thus  move  a  steel  bar  which  struck  a 
bell.  This  in  a  scientific  point  of  view,  was  the  demonstration  and 
accomplishment  of  all  that  was  required  for  the  magnetic  telegraph. 
-  -  -  Let  us  not  forget  that  the  click  of  the  telegraph  which  is 
heard  from  every  joint  of  those  mystic  wires  which .  now  link  to- 
gether every  city,  and  village,  and  post,  and  camp,  and  station,  all 
over  this  continent,  is  but  the  echo  of  that  little  bell  which  first 
sounded  in  that  upper  room  of  the  Academy."  * 

On  the  same  occasion,  the  Hon.  Alexander  \V.  Bradford,  also  a 
former  pupil  of  the  Academy,  (who  finished  his  course  at  the  Insti- 
tution and  left  it  in  1832,)  recalled  the  suspended  lines  of  insulated 
copper  wire  through  which  his  teacher  had  demonstrated  "the 
magnetic  power  of  the  galvanic  battery;  and  years  before  the  inven- 
tion of  the  telegraph,  proclaimed  to  America  and  to  Europe  the 
means  of  communication  by  the  electric  fluid.  I  was  an  eye- 

*" Historical  Discourse":  on  the  Celebration  of  the  Semi-Centennial  Anni- 
versary of  the  Albany  Academy,  June  23,  1863.  Proceedings,  etc.  pp.  25,  26. 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR: NOTES.  381 

witness  to  those  experiments,  and  to  their  eventual  demonstration 
and  triumph/'  * 

Professor  James  Hall,  (in  the  same  year  in  which  he  was  Presi- 
dent of  the  American  Association  at  its  Albany  meeting,)  in  a  letter 
addressed  to  Professor  Henry,  January  19,  1856,  relates  the  circum- 
stances of  a  visit  to  the  Albany  Academy  in  August,  1832,  on  which 
occasion  he  was  shown  a  long  circuit  of  wire  about  the  walls  of  a 
larger  upper  room,  "and  at  one  termination  of  this,  in  the  recess  of 
a  window,  a  bell  was  fixed,  while  the  other  extremity  was  connected 
with  a  galvanic  apparatus.  You  showed  us  the  manner  in  which 
the  bell  could  be  made  to  ring  by  a  current  of  electricity  transmitted 
through  this  Avire;  and  you  remarked  that  this  method  might  be 
adopted  for  giving  signals  by  the  ringing  of  a  bell  at  the  distance 
of  many  miles  from  the  point  of  its  connection  with  the  galvanic 
apparatus.  All  the  circumstances  attending  this  visit  to  Albany 
are  fresh  in  my  recollection ;  and  during  the  past  years  while  so 
much  has  been  said  respecting  the  invention  of  electric  telegraphs, 
I  have  often  had  occasion  to  mention  the  exhibition  of  your  electric 
telegraph  in  the  Albany  Academy,  in  1832."t 

Professor  Morse,  who  states  that  the  idea  of  an  electric  telegraph 
first  occurred  to  him  in  October,  1832,  commenced  experimenting 
on  this  conception  in  the  latter  part  of  1835.  The  following  is  his 
own  account  of  his  first  experiments : 

"In  the  year  1835, 1  was  appointed  a  professor  in  the  New  York 
City  University,  and  about  the  month  of  November  of  that  year,  I 
occupied  rooms  in  the  University  buildings.  There  I  immediately 
commenced  with  very  limited  means  to  experiment  upon  my  inven- 
tion. My  first  instrument  was  made  up  of  an  old  picture  or  canvas 
frame  fastened  to  a  table,  the  wheels  of  an  old  wooden  clock  moved 
by  a  weight  to  carry  the  paper  forward,  three  wooden  drums  upon 
one  of  which  the  paper  was  wound  and  passed  over  the  other  two, 
a  wooden  pendulum  suspended  to  the  top  piece  of  the  picture  or 
stretching  frame  and  vibrating  across  the  paper  as  it  passed  over 
the  center  wooden  drum,  a  pencil  at  the  lower  end  of  the  pendulum 
in  contact  with  the  paper,  an  electro-magnet  fastened  to  a  shelf 
across  the  picture  or  stretching  frame  opposite  to  an  armature  made 
fast  to  the  pendulum,  a  type-rule  and  type  for  breaking  the  circuit 
on  an  endless  band  (composed  of  carpet-binding)  which  passed  over 
two  wooden  rollers  moved  by  a  wooden  crank  and  carried  forward 
by  points  projecting  from  the  bottom  of  the  rule  downward  into  the 
carpet-binding,  a  lever  with  a  small  weight  on  the  upper  side  and  a 

*" Commemorative  Address":  at  Semi-Centennial  Anniversary  of  Albany 
Academy,  June  23,  1863.  Proceedings,  etc.  p.  48. 

4  Published  in  the  Smitlisonian  Report  for  1857,  p.  96. 


382  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

tooth  projecting  downward  at  one  end  operated  on  by  the  type,  and 
a  metallic  fork  also  projecting  downward  over  two  mercury-cups 
and  a  short  circuit  of  wire  embracing  the  helices  of  the  electro- 
magnet, connected  with  the  positive  and  negative  poles  of  the  bat- 
tery and  terminating  in  the  mercury-cups.  -  -  -  Early  in  1836, 
I  procured  forty  feet  of  wire,  and  putting  it  in  the  circuit  I  found 
that  my  battery  of  one  cup  was  not  sufficient  to  work  my  instru- 
ment." * 

The  last  statement  exhibits  a  singular  unconsciousness  of  the  real 
defect  of  his  receiving  apparatus,  and  of  the  fact  that  no  number 
of  galvanic  cups  would  have  sufficed  "to  work  the  instrument"  as 
then  constructed.  It  is  true  (as  first  shown  by  Henry)  that  an 
"intensity"  battery  of  many  elements  is  required  to  operate  a  mag- 
netic telegraph  line;  but  (as  also  shown  by  him)  a  no  less  essential 
constituent,  is  an  " intensity"  magnet,  if  any  use  is  to  be  made  of 
the  armature.  And  on  this  point  Professor  Morse  seems  never  to 
have  understood  the  vital  importance  of  Henry's  discoveries  to  the 
success  of  his  own  invention.  Had  he  employed  the  most  powerful 
of  then  existing  magnets,  (Henry's  Yale  College  magnet  of  1831, 
lifting  2,300  pounds,  or  Henry's  Princeton  College  magnet  of  1834, 
lifting  3,500  pounds,)  he  would  still  have  found  neither  one  cup  nor 
one  thousand  cups  "sufficient  to  work  the  instrument"  through  a 
circuit  of  fine  wire,  at  the  distance  of  a  single  mile.f  Although 
Professor  Morse  was  enabled  therefore  to  operate  the  armature  of 
his  Sturgeon  magnet  through  a  few  yards  of  wire,  it  is  certain  that 
his  experiments  in  1836  were,  for  any  telegraphic  purpose,  an  abso- 
lute failure: — a  failure  as  complete  as  were  those  undertaken  by 
Barlow  in  1825.  The  relevancy  of  his  incidental  remark  as  in 
extenuation — "one  cup  was  not  sufficient  to  work  my  instrument," 
may  therefore  be  appreciated. 

As  an  artist  of  repute,  Mr.  Morse  had  been  appointed  professor 
of  the  "Arts  of  Design,"  in  the  newly  established  New  York  City 
University,  in  the  autumn  of  1835;  but  with  any  literature  of  sci- 
ence, he  was  remarkably  unfamiliar.  He  therefore  very  naturally 
had  recourse  to  his  colleague  Professor  Leonard  D.  Gale  (of  the 
chair  of  chemistry)  for  needed  scientific  assistance.  The  following 
is  Dr.  Gale's  account  of  Morse's  original  invention : 

"In  the  winter  of  1836-'37,  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse,  who  as  well 
as  myself  was  a  professor  in  the  New  York  University,  city  of 

*  Professor  Morse's  deposition  in  the  "Bain  case,"  1850. 

t  "  Electro-magnets  of  the  greatest  power,  even  when  the  most  energetic  bat- 
teries are  employed,  utterly  cease  to  act  when  they  are  connected  by  considerable 
lengths  of  wire  with  the  battery."  (J.  F.  Daniell's  Introduction  to  the  Study  of 
Chemical  Philosophy.  2nd  ed.  8vo.  London,  1843,  chap.  xvi.  sect.  859,  p.  576.) 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR: — NOTES.  383 

New  York,  came  to  my  lecture  room,  and  said  he  had  a  machine  in 
his  lecture  room  or  studio  which  he  wished  to  show  me.  I  accom- 
panied him  to  his  room  and  there  saw  resting  on  a  table  a  single- 
pair  galvanic  battery,  an  electro-magnet,  an  arrangement  of  pencil, 
a  paper-covered  roller,  pinion  wheels,  levers,  etc.  for  making  letters 
and  figures  to  be  used  for  sending  and  receiving  words  and  sentences 
through  long  distances.  -  -  -  It  was  evident  to  me  that  the 
one  large  cup-battery  of  Morse  should  ]be  made  into  ten  or  fifteen 
smaller  ones  to  make  it  a  battery  of  intensity.  -  -  Accord- 
ingly I  substituted  the  battery  of  many  cups  for  the  battery  of  one 
cup.  The  remaining  defect  in  the  Morse  machine  as  first  seen  by 
me  was  that  the  coil  of  wire  around  the  poles  of  the  electro-magnet 
consisted  of  but  a  few  turns  only,  while  to  give  the  greatest  projec- 
tile power,  the  number  of  turns  should  be  increased  from  tens  to 
hundreds,  as  shown  by  Professor  Henry  in  his  paper  published  in 
the  American  Journal  of  Science,  1831.  -  -  -  After  substi- 
tuting the  battery  of  twenty  cups  for  that  of  a  single  cup,  we 
added  some  hundred  or  more  turns  to  the  coil  of  wire  around  the 
poles  of  the  magnet,  and  sent  a  message  through  200  feet  of  con- 
ductors; then  through  1,000  feet."* 

After  many  trials  at  recording  numbers  by  zig-zag  .markings 
counted  in  groups  separated  by  a  space,  a  continuous  dispatch  was 
for  the  first  time  effected  on  the  2d  and  4th  of  September,  1837,  in 
the  form  of  V-shaped  lines  inscribed  on  the  paper  fillet,  to  the  fol- 
lowing effect:  "215— 36  —  2— 58  — 112— 04— 01837:"  which 
message  as  interpreted  by  a  numbered  vocabulary  from  which  it  was 
compiled,  expressed  the  phrase  "successful  experiment  with  tele- 
graph, September  4,  1837."  f 

About  a  month  later,  Professor  Morse  filed  in  the  United  States 
Patent  Office  a  "Caveat,"  signed  October  3d,  1837,  comprising: 
"  1st,  a  system  of  signs  by  which  numbers  and  consequently  words 
and  sentences  are  signified;  2d,  a  set  of  type  adapted  to  regulate 
and  communicate  the  signs,  with  cases  for  convenient  keeping  of 
the  type,  and.  rules  in  which  to  set  up  the  type ;  3d,  an  apparatus 
called  a  port-rule  for  regulating  the  movement  of  the  type-rules, 
which  rules  by  means  of  the  type  in  their  turn  regulate  the  times 
and  intervals  of  the  passage  of  electricity;  4th,  a  register  which 
records  the  signs  permanently ;  5th,  a  dictionary  or  vocabulary  of 

*  Memorial  of  8.  F.  B.  Morse.    8vo.    Washington,  1875,  pp.  15-17. 

t  A  fac-simile  of  this  first  "successful  experiment"  was  published  in  the  New 
York  Journal  of  Commerce,  for  Thursday,  Sept.  7th,  1837;  and  was  reproduced  in 
Vail's  American  Electro-Magnetic  Telegraph.  8vo.  Philadelphia,  1845,  p.  75.  The 
date,  September,  1837,  is  accordingly  that  of  the  reduction  of  Morse's  telegraph  to 
a  practical  operation. 


384  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH   HENRY. 

words  numbered  and  adapted  to  this  system  of  telegraph;  6th, 
modes  of  laying  the  conductors  to  preserve  them  from  injury." 

A  new  and  improved  transmitting  and  recording  apparatus  was 
completed  for  Professor  Morse,  by  his  partner,  Mr.  Alfred  Vail,  of 
the  Speedwell  Iron-works,  near  Morristown,  N.  J.  at  the  close  of 
the  year  1837;  and  early  in  January,  1838,  Professor  Morse  first 
discarded  the  numeral  signs  for  words,  and  employed  a  true  alpha- 
bet of  "dots  and  dashes."  The  first  exhibition  of  an  alphabetic 
record  of  words  and  sentences  took  place  in  the  New  York  City 
University,  January  24th,  1838,  through  ten  miles  of  wire  wound 
on  reels.  The  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce,  in  a  notice  of  this 
performance,  remarked :  "Professor  Morse  has  recently  improved 
on  his  mode  of  marking,  by  which  he  can  dispense  altogether  with 
the  telegraphic  dictionary,  using  letters  instead  of  numbers."  *  The 
biographer  of  Morse  designates  the  dispatch  transmitted  through 
the  wires  on  this  occasion,  "  the  first  sentence  that  was  ever  recorded 
by  the  telegraph. "f 

An  application  for  a  patent  (signed  by  Professor  Morse,  April 
7th,  1838,)  was  filed  in  the  Patent  Office;  and  in  addition  to  the 
several  parts  described  in  the  earlier  Caveat,  this  application  included 
the  new  system  of  alphabetic  symbols,  and  the  "  relay  "  of  successive 
electro-magnetic  circuits.  At  his  own  request,  the  grant  of  the 
patent  was  suspended  until  he  should  have  made  a  visit  to  Europe : 
and  it  was  not  issued  till  June  20th,  1840.  On  his  return  from  his 
European  tour,  Professor  Morse,  in  May,  1839,  sought  an  interview 
with  Henry  at  Princeton,  from  which  he  received  much  encourage- 
ment :  having  the  differences  between  the  "quantity"  and  "intensity" 
magnets  fully  explained  to  him,  and  learning  from  that  cautious 
investigator  that  he  was  aware  of  no  obstacle  to  the  magnetization 
of  soft  iron  "at  the  distance  of  a  hundred  miles  or  more"  from  the 
battery.  J 

During  the  long  and  weary  interval  in  which  Professor  Morse — 
with  hope  deferred — was  unavailingly  prosecuting  his  memorial  to 
Congress  for  assistance,  he  received  from  Henry  the  following 
friendlv  and  inspiriting  letter: 

"PRINCETON  COLLEGE,  Feb.  24,  1842. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :  I  am  pleased  to  learn  that  you  have  again  peti- 
tioned Congress  in  reference  to  your  telegraph ;  and  I  most  sincerely 
hope  you  will  succeed  in  convincing  our  Representatives  of  the 
importance  of  the  invention.  -  -  Science  is  now  fully  ripe 

*  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce  of  January  29th,  1838. 
f  Prime's  Life  of  Morse,  8vo.    New  York,  1875,  p.  331. 
t  Prime's  Life  of  Morse,  chap.  x.  pp.  421,  422. 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR:  —  NOTES.  385 

for  this  application,  and  I  have  not  the  least  doubt,  if  proper  means 
be  afforded,  of  the  perfect  success  of  the  invention.  The  idea  of 
transmitting  intelligence  to  a  distance  by  means  of  electrical  action 
has  been  suggested  by  various  persons,  from  the  time  of  Franklin 
to  the  present;  but  until  within  the  last  few  years,  or  since  the 
principal  discoveries  in  electro-magnetism,  all  attempts  to  reduce  it 
to  practice  were  necessarily  unsuccessful.  The  mere  suggestion 
however  of  a  scheme  of  this  kind,  is  a  matter  for  which  little 
credit  can  be  claimed,  since  it  is  one  which  would  naturally  arise  in 
the  mind  of  almost  any  person  familiar  with  the  phenomena  of 
electricity :  but  the  bringing  it  forward  at  the  proper  moment  when 
the  developments  of  science  are  able  to  furnish  the  means  of  certain 
success,  and  the  devising  a  plan  for  carrying  it  into  practical  oper- 
ation, are  the  grounds  of  a  just  claim  to  scientific  reputation  as  well 
as  to  public  patronage.  About  the  same  time  with  yourself,  Pro- 
fessor Wheatstone  of  London,  and  Dr.  Steinheil  of  Germany,  pro- 
posed plans  of  the  electro-magnetic  telegraph;  but  these  differ  as 
much  from  yours  as  the  nature  of  the  common  principle  would  well 
permit;  and  unless  some  essential  improvements  have  lately  been 
made  in  these  European  plans,  I  should  prefer  the  one  invented  by 
yourself. 

"With  my  best  wishes  for  your  success,  I  remain  with  much 
esteem, 

"Yours,  truly, 

"JOSEPH  HENRY." 

"This"  says  Morse's  biographer,  "was  the  most  encouraging 
communication  Professor  Morse  received  during  the  dark  ages 
between  1839  and  1843."  *  And  appended  to  his  memorial,  it  was 
undoubtedly  influential  in  enlisting  a  more  favorable  attention  to 
the  unfamiliar  project  of  an  electro-magnetic  telegraph.  In  Decem- 
ber of  the  same  year  a  bill  appropriating  thirty  thousand  dollars 
for  testing  the  system  invented  by  S.  F.  B.  Morse,  was  reported 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  by  the  Hon.  C.  G.  Ferris  of 
New  York;  passing  that  body  February  23rd,  and  the  Senate 
about  a  week  later — March  3d,  1843,  on  the  eve  of  the  close  of  its 
session. 

Under  the  appropriation  thus  secured,  a  line  of  four  wires  was 
extended  from  Washington  to  Baltimore,  a  distance  of  40  miles; 
and  on  the  24th  of  May,  1844,  the  first  message  was  satisfactorily 
transmitted  between  the  two  cities.  The  rapid  success  of  the  tele- 
graph soon  stimulated  competition ;  and  before  many  years  elapsed, 
a  series  of  resisting  litigations  was  the  natural  consequence. 

'  *  Prime's  Life  of  Morse,  chap.  x.  p.  423. 
25 


386  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

Henry  summoned  to  testify  as  to  the  condition  of  telegraphic 
science,  as  well  as  to  his  own  experimental  researches,  previous  to 
Morse's  invention,  was  compelled  to  give  evidence  which  did  not 
sustain  entirely  the  theory  of  the  complainants,  and  therefore  did 
not  satisfy  their  very  broad  pretensions;  though  it  did  tend  to 
establish  Professor  Morse's  just  claims  to  originality.  This  account 
can  best  be  given  in  Henry's  own  statement : 

"A  series  of  controversies  and  lawsuits  having  arisen  between 
rival  claimants  for  telegraphic  patents,  I  was  repeatedly  appealed 
to,  to  act  as  expert  and  witness  in  such  cases.  This  I  uniformly 
declined  to  do,  not  wishing  to  be  in  any  manner  involved  in  these 
litigations,  but  was  finally  compelled,  under  legal  process,  to  return 
to  Boston  from  Maine,  whither  I  had  gone  on  a  visit,  and  to  give 
evidence  on  the  subject.  My  testimony  was  given  with  the  state- 
ment that  I  was  not  a  willing  witness,  and  that  I  labored  under  the 
disadvantage  of  not  having  access  to*  my  notes  and  papers,  which 
were  in  Washington.  That  testimony  however  I  now  reaffirm  to  be 
true  in  every  essential  particular.  It  was  unimpeached  before  the 
court,  and  exercised  an  influence  on  the  final  decision  of  the  ques- 
tion at  issue.  I  was  called  upon  on  that  occasion  to  state,  not  only 
what  I  had  published,  but  what  I  had  done,  and  what  I  had  shown 
to  others  in  regard  to  the  telegraph.  It  was  my  wish,  in  every 
statement,  to  render  Mr.  Morse  full  and  scrupulous  justice.  While 
I  was  constrained  therefore  to  state  that  he  had  made  no  discove- 
ries in  science,  I  distinctly  declared  that  he  was  entitled  to  the  merit 
of  combining  and  applying  the  discoveries  of  others,  in  the  inven- 
tion of  the  best  practical  form  of  the  magnetic  telegraph.  My 
testimony  tended  to  establish  the  fact  that  though  not  entitled  to 
the  exclusive  use  of  the  electro-magnet  for  telegraphic  purposes,  he 
was  entitled  to  his  particular  machine,  register,  alphabet,  <fcc.  As 
this  however  did  not  meet  the  full  requirements  of  Mr.  Morse's 
comprehensive  claim,  I  could  not  but  be  aware  that,  while  aiming 
to  depose  nothing  but  truth  and  the  whole  truth,  -  -  -  I  might 
expose  myself  to  the  possible,  and  as  it  has  proved,  the  actual, 
danger  of  having  my  motives  misconstrued  and  my  testimony  mis- 
represented. But  I  can  truly  aver  that  I  had  no  desire  to  arrogate 
to  myself  undue  merit,  or  to  detract  from  the  iust  claims  of  Mr. 
Morse."* 

From  this  time,  Professor  Morse  seemed  to  regard  Henry  with 
the  jealous  eye  of  a  rival,  as  if  holding  him  disposed  for  purposes 
of  self-aggrandizement  to  detract  from  his  own  merit  as  projector 
of  the  telegraph.  After  years  of  preparation,  he  had  completed 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1857,  pp.  87,  88. 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR:  —  NOTES.  387 

and  signed  in  December,  1853,  and  in  January  of  1855,  under 
the  ill-advised  promptings  of  interested  supporters,  caused  to  be 
published  in  a  pamphlet  of  96  pages,  an  elaborate  and  artfully 
contrived  attack  upon  Henry's  character  as  a  scientific  explorer,  and 
as  a  trustworthy  man ;  undertaking  the  hazardous  task  of  exposing 
"the  utter  non-reliability  of  Henry's  testimony."  In  this  assault— 
so  unfortunate  for  his  own  reputation,  (if  not  for  candor,  at  least 
for  intelligence,)  he  announced: 

"  1st.  I  certainly  shall  show  that  I  have  not  only  manifested  every 
disposition  to  give  due  credit  to  Professor  Henry,  but  under  the 
hasty  impression  that  he  deserved  credit  for  discoveries  in  science 
bearing  upon  the  telegraph,  I  did  actually  give  him  a  degree  of 
credit  not  only  beyond  what  he  had  received  at  that  time  from  the 
scientific  world,  but  a  degree  of  credit  to  which  subsequent  research 
has  proved  him  not  to  be  entitled.  2d.  I  shall  show  that  I  am  not 
indebted  to  him  for  any  discovery  in  science  bearing  on  the  tele- 
graph, and  that  all  discoveries  of  principles  having  this  bearing 
were  made  not  by  Professor  Henry,  but  by  others  and  prior  to  any 
experiments  of  Professor  Henry  in  the  science  of  electro-magnetism. 
3d.  I  shall  further  show  that  the  claim  set  up  for  Professor  Henry 
to  the  invention  of  an  important  part  of  my  telegraph  system,  has 
no  validity  in  fact."  * 

Neglecting  entirely  the  first  allegation, —  as  a  sufficient  answer  to 
the  second,  Henry  simply  appealed  to  the  unimpeachable  testimony 
of  Dr.  Gale,  who  certainly  had  a  much  more  precise  knowledge  of 
Professor  Morse's  early  experiments  and  apparatus  than  the  inventor 
himself.  And  in  reply  to  the  third  allegation,  driven  in  self-defence 
to  the  unusual  step  of  self-assertion,  Henry  presented  to  the  Regents 
for  their  adjudication,  the  evidences  of  his  discoveries  and  of  their 
respective  dates  of  application  and  promulgation,  f 

Professor  Gale,  who  still  preserved  a  faithful  friendship  for  his 
former  colleague,  yet  in  the  interests  of  truth  did  not  hesitate  to 
renew  his  former  testimony  to  the  vital  bearing  of  Henry's  researches 

*  A  Defence  against  the  injurious  deductions  drawn  from  the  Deposition  of  Professor 
Henry.  New  York,  1855,  p.  8. 

f  A  select  committee  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Regents  to  investigate  the 
imputations  made  by  this  remarkable  assault— against  the  truthfulness  of  their 
Secretary,  after  a  careful  examination  of  all  the  evidences  presented  or  accessible, 
submitted  through  its  chairman,  President  Felton  of  Harvard  University,  a  very 
able  and  exhaustive  report,  in  which  the  tenor  of  the  pamphlet  is  characterized 
as  "a  disingenuous  piece  of  sophistical  argument,"  and  the  conclusion  is 
announced,  "  that  Mr.  Morse  has  failed  to  substantiate  any  one  of  the  charges  he 
has  made  against  Professor  Henry,  although  the  burden  of  proof  lay  upon  him; 
and  that  all  the  evidence  — including  the  unbiased  admissions  of  Mr.  Morse  him- 
self, is  on  the  other  side.  Mr.  Morse's  charges  not  only  remain  unproved,  but 
they  are  positively  disproved."  (Smithsonian  Report  for  1857,  pp.  88-98.) 


388  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

on  the  success  of  the  telegraph ;  and  he  frankly  responded  to  Henry's 
inquiry  in  the  following  letter: 

"WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  April  7,  1856. 

"  SIR  :  In  reply  to  your  note  of  the  3d  instant,  respecting  the 
Morse  telegraph,  asking  me  to  state  definitely  the  condition  of  the 
invention  when  I  first  saw  the  apparatus  in  the  winter  of  1836,  I 
answer:  This  apparatus  was  Morse's  original  instrument,  usually 
known  as  the  type  apparatus,  in  which  the  types,  set  up  in  a  com- 
posing stick,  were  run  through  a  circuit  breaker,  and  in  which  the 
battery  was  the  cylinder  battery,  with  a  single  pair  of  plates.  This 
arrangement  also  had  another  peculiarity,  namely,  it  was  the  electro- 
magnet used  by  Moll,*  and  shown  in  drawings  of  the  older  works  on 
that  subject,  having  only  a  few  turns  of  wire  in  the  coil  which  sur- 
rounded the  poles  or  arms  of  the  magnet.  The  sparceness  of  the  wires 
in  the  magnet  coils  and  the  use  of  the  single  cup  battery  were  to  me, 
on  the  first  look  at  the  instrument,  obvious  marks  of  defect,  and  I 
accordingly  suggested  to  the  Professor,  without  giving  my  reasons  for 
so  doing,  that  a  battery  of  many  pairs  should  be  substituted  for  that 
of  a  single  pair,  and  that  the  coil  on  each  arm  of  the  magnet  should 
be  increased  to  many  hundred  turns  each ;  which  experiment,  if  I 
remember  aright,  was  made  on  the  same  day  with  a  battery  and 
wire  on  hand,  furnished  I  believe  by  myself,  and  it  was  found  that 
while  the  original  arrangement  would  only  send  the  electric  current 
through  a  few  feet  of  wire,  say  15  to  40,  the  modified  arrangement 
would  send  it  through  as  many  hundred.  Although  I  gave  no 
reasons  at  the  time  to  Professor  Morse  for  the  suggestions  I  had 
proposed  in  modifying  the  arrangement  of  the  machine,  I  did  so 
afterwards,  and  referred  in  my  explanations  to  the  paper  of  Pro- 
fessor Henry,  in  the  19th  volume  of  the  American  Journal  of  Sci- 
encej  page  400  and  onward. 

"At  the  time  I  gave  the  suggestions  above. named,  Professor 
Morse  was  not  familiar  with  the  then  existing  state  of  the  science 
of  electro-magnetism.  Had  he  been  so,  or  had  he  read  and  appre- 
ciated the  paper  of  Henry,  the  suggestions  made  by  me  would 
naturally  have  occurred  to  his  mind  as  they  did  to  my  own.  But 
the  principal  part  of  Morse's  great  invention  lay  in  the  mechanical 
adaptation  of  a  power  to  produce  motion,  and  to  increase  or  relax 
at  will.  It  was  only  necessary  for  him  to  know  that  such  a  power 
existed  for  him  to  adapt  mechanism  to  direct  and  control  it.  My 
suggestions  were  made  to  Professor  Morse  from  inferences  drawn  by 
reading  Professor  Henry's  paper  above  alluded  to.  Professor  Morse 

*[More  correctly,  the  magnet  of  STURGEON.] 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TA YLOB : — NOTES.  389 

professed  great  surprise  at  the  contents  of  the  paper  when  I  showed 
it  to  him,  but  especially  at  the  remarks  on  Dr.  Barlow's  results 
respecting  telegraphing,  which  were  new  to  him,  and  he  stated  at 
the  time  that  he  was  not  aware  that  any  one  had  even  conceived 
the  idea  of  using  the  magnet  for  such  purposes. 

"With  sentiments  of  esteem,  I  remain,  yours  truly, 

"L.  I).  GALE. 
^ Prof.  Jos.  HENRY,  Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution" 

A  simple  reference  to  published  documents,  abundantly  estab- 
lished the  indisputable  originality  and  priority  of  Henry's  successful 
researches ;  and  conclusively  exposed  the  falsity  of  Professor  Morse's 
remaining  allegations.  The  following  summary  from  the  historic 
evidence,  as  stated  by  Henry  himself,  is  certainly  (in  the  language 
of  the  committee  of  the  Regents)  "within  what  he  might  fairly 
have  claimed  : " 

"  From  a  careful  investigation  of  the  history  of  electro-magnet- 
ism in  its  connection  with  the  telegraph,  the  following  facts  may  be 
established : 

"1.  Previous  to  my  investigations  the  means  of  developing 
magnetism  in  soft  iron  were  imperfectly  understood,  and  the  electro- 
magnet which  then  existed  was  inapplicable  to  the  transmission  of 
power  to  a  distance. 

"  2.  I  was  the  first  to  prove  by  actual  experiment  that  in  order 
to  develop  magnetic  power  at  a  distance,  a  galvanic  battery  of  inten- 
sity must  be  employed  to  project  the  current  through  the  long  con- 
ductor, and  that  a  magnet  surrounded  by  many  turns  of  one  long 
wire  may  be  used  to  receive  this  current. 

"3.  I  was  the  first  actually  to  magnetize  a  piece  of  iron  at  a 
distance,  and  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  of  the  applicability  of  my 
experiments  to  the  telegraph. 

"  4.  I  was  the  first  to  actually  sound  a  bell  at  a  distance  by  means 
of  the  electro-magnet. 

"5.  The  principles  I  had  developed  were  applied  by  Dr.  Gale 
to  render  Morse's  machine  effective  at  a  distance. 

"  The  results  here  given  were  among  my  earliest  experiments ;  in 
a  scientific  point  of  view  I  considered  them  of  much  less  impor- 
tance than  what  I  subsequently  accomplished ;  and  had  I  not  been 
called  upon  to  give  my  testimony  in  regard  to  them,  I  would  have 
suffered  them  to  remain  without  calling  public  attention  to  them,  a 
part  of  the  history  of  science  to  be  judged  of  by  scientific  men  who 
are  the  best  qualified  to  pronounce  upon  their  merits." : 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1857,  p.  106. 


390  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

Note  D.     (From  p. 


Professor  M.  Faraday,  in  the  first  series  of  his  "Experimental 
Kesearches  in  Electricity/'  commencing  in  the  latter  part  of  1831, 
employed  for  the  magnet  by  which  he  made  his  most  important  dis- 
covery—  that  of  magneto-electricity, — the  multiple  coil  of  Henry. 
He  thus  describes  it :  "A  welded  ring  was  made  of  soft  round  bar- 
iron,  the  metal  being  seven-eighths  of  an  inch  in  thickness,  and  the 
ring  six  inches  in  external  diameter.  Three  helices  were  put  around 
one  part  of  this  ring,  each  containing  about  twenty-four  feet  of 
copper  wire  one-twentieth  of  an  inch  thick :  they  were  insulated 
from  the  iron  and  each  other,  and  superposed  in  the  manner  before 
described.*  They  could  be  used  separately  or  arranged  together. 
On  the  other  part  of  the  ring  about  sixty  feet  of  similar  copper  wire 
in  two  pieces  were  applied  in  the  same  manner.  -  -  -  There  is 
no  doubt  that  arrangments  like  the  magnets  of  Professors  Moll, 
Henry,  Ten-Eyck,  and  others,  in  which  as  many  as  2,000  pounds 
have  been  lifted,  may  be  used  for  these  experiments/'  f 

Henry's  warm  friend  —  Dr.  Robert  Hare  of  Philadelphia,  (Pro- 
fessor of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,)  who  early 
repeated  his  magnetic  experiments,  says  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Sturgeon, 
dated  April  5,  1832:  "As  soon  as  I  heard  of  the  wonderful  mag- 
net of  Professor  Henry,  I  repeated  his  experiments  with  copper 
wire  varnished  as  above  described;  and  I  have  recently  made  a 
magnet  by  means  of  copper  wire,  shellac  varnish,  and  paper  sur- 
rounding the  iron, —  which  in  proportion  to  its  weight,  holds  more 
than  his.  It  weighs  17  pounds,  and  has  held  783  pounds.  It  is 
furnished  with  fourteen  coils,  of  sixty  feet  each."J 

Professor  N.  J.  Callan,  of  the  College  of  Maynooth,  Ireland,  in 
1836,  giving  an  account  of  his  "new  galvanic  battery"  remarks 

*  [In  his  preceding  electrical  induction  coils,  Professor  Faraday  employed 
"twelve  helices  superposed,  each  containing  an  average  length  of  wire  of  27  feet, 
and  all  in  the  same  direction."  Of  these,  six  were  connected  by  their  extremities 
with  the  battery  — for  the  primary  current,  and  the  alternate  six  were  gathered 
by  their  extremities,  for  testing  the  secondary  or  induced  current.] 

t  Phil.  Trans.  Roy.  Soc.  Nov.  24, 1831,  vol.  cxxii.  sects.  27  and  57;  pp.  131,  138.— Also 
Experimental  Researches,  etc.  8vo.  London,  1839,  vol.  i.  pp.  7,  15.  At  the  time  this 
was  written,  the  only  electro-magnet  in  existence  —  even  approaching  the  lifting 
power  stated,  was  the  Yale  College  magnet  of  HENRY.  Nor  had  any  other  experi- 
menter approximated  within  a  tenth  of  this  magnetic  attraction.  And  it  is  note- 
worthy that  Professor  Faraday  adopted  very  precisely  the  character  of  coil 
originated  and  recommended  by  Henry,  and  did  not  adopt  the  single  coil 
employed  by  Professor  Moll. 

%  Sturgeon's  Annals  of  Electricity,  etc.  Oct.  1836,  vol.  i.  p.  10. 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR: — NOTES.  391 

that  "it  rendered  powerfully  magnetic  an  electro-magnet  on  which 
were  coiled  39  thick  copper  wires,  each  about  35  feet  long."  * 

The  only  subsequent  extension  of  Henry's  results  worthy  of 
note,  is  that  made  by  the  ingenious  English  physicist  Joule.  It 
had  been  found  that  the  maximum  attractive  force  of  the  electro- 
magnet is  exhibited  near  its  surface,  and  that  an  enlargement  of 
the  iron  does  not  correspondingly  enhance  its  magnetic  power. f  If 
we  adopt  the  conception  of  Coulomb  and  of  Weber  that  the  con- 
stituent molecules  of  the  iron  are  each  independent  permanent  mag- 
nets, this  variation  of  magnetic  force  in  a  large  iron  bar,  receives 
an  easy  explanation ;  since  the  middle  portion  of  the  bar  is  not  only 
less  coerced  by  the  surrounding  coil,|  but  is  powerfully  impressed 
by  the  opposite  induction  of  the  outer  belt  of  polarized  molecules. 
While  therefore  we  should  a  priori  expect  the  aggregate  attractive 
force  to  increase  with  the  size  of  the  bar,  (i.  e.  the  cross-section  or 
end-surface  of  the  poles,)  we  find  that  this  very  extension  occasions 
a  large  amount  of  neutralization  by  the  interior  opposite  magnet- 
ism; such  depolarization  being  obviously  the  condition  of  least 
constraint.§ 

Acting  on  the  theory  that  the  power  of  the  magnet  would  depend 
on  the  extent  of  efficient  polar  surface,  and  at  the  same  time  on  the 
propinquity  of  the  electric  coil,  Joule's  highest  magnetic  triumph 
consisted  in  giving  a  greatly  increased  depth  to  the  horse-shoe,  (as 
though  a  vast  number  of  small  horse-shoes  were  laid  side  to  side 
and  cemented  together,)  without  an  increase  of  its  width;  the  former 
dimension  exceeding  the  latter  many  times :  so  that  the  two  poles 
presented  a  pair  of  long  narrow  parallel  surfaces  close  together, 
bounding  a  long  trough  or  gutter.  And  the  addition  of  the  oblong 
armature  gave  the  whole  the  general  appearance  of  a  tube.  The 
author  thus  describes  its  construction:  "A  piece  of  cylindrical 
wrought-iron,  eight  inches  long,  had  a  hole  one  inch  in  diameter 
bored  the  whole  length  of  its  axis ;  one  side  was  then  planed  until 

*  L.  &  E.  Phil.  Mag.  Dec.  1836,  vol.  ix.  p.  475. 

t  Barlow  had  drawn  the  conclusion  from  his  own  experiments,  that  the  mag- 
netic power  of  iron  resides  entirely  at  the  surface,  and  is  irrespective  of  mass. 

%  The  direct  action  of  the  electric  circuit  in  the  coil  would  probably  not  be 
sensibly  less  on  the  interior  than  on  the  exterior  of  a  large  iron  core;  but  its 
polarizing  energy  must  necessarily  be  largely  expended  in  coercing  the  homolo- 
gous direction  of  the  nearest  outer  layers  of  molecules,  leaving  the  interior  mass 
more  under  the  immediate  inductive  influence  of  its  girdle  of  magnets. 

§  Having  this  in  view  Joule  (in  imitation  of  Coulomb's  faggot  of  thin  magnets) 
employed  with  success  a  bundle  of  wires  for  the  electro-magnetic  core.  (Stur- 
geon's Annals,  etc.  July,  1839,  vol.  iv.  pp.  58-61.)  It  is  evident  also  from  the  above, 
that  the  removal  of  the  central  portion  of  the  inner  core,  in  other  words  the 
employment  of  a  tube  of  certain  thickness,  in  place  of  the  solid  bar,  would  actu- 
ally increase  the  resultant  power  of  the  magnet,  with  a  diminished  mass  of  iron. 


392  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

the  hole  was  exposed  sufficiently  to  separate  the  'poles'  one-third 
of  an  inch.  Another  piece  of  iron  also  eight  inches  long  was  then 
planed,  and  being  secured  with  its  face  in  contact  with  the  other 
planed  surface,  the  whole  was  turned  into  a  cylinder  eight  inches 
long,  three  inches  and  three-quarters  in  exterior  —  and  one  inch 
interior  diameter.  The  larger  piece  was  then  covered  with  calico, 
and  wound  with  four  copper  wires  (covered  with  silk)  each  23  feet 
long  and  one-eleventh  of  an  inch  in  diameter; — a  quantity  which 
was  just  sufficient  to  hide  the  exterior  surface,  and  entirely  to  fill 
the  inside  hole."*  This  magnet  weighing  without  wire  but  15 
pounds,  lifted  2,090  pounds. 

Joule  subsequently  made  another  magnet  still  deeper,  or  longer  in 
its  tubular  extent ;  the  grooved  iron  with  its  closed  armature  being 
not  unlike  a  gun-barrel.  The  length  of  this  soft-iron  cylinder  was 
two  feet;  its  external  diameter  about  one  inch  and  a  half,  and  its 
internal  diameter  a  half  inch:  the  weight  of  the  grooved  magnet 
being  6  pounds  11  ounces,  and  that  of  its  armature,  3  pounds  7 
ounces.  A  copper  rod  three-eighths  of  an  inch  thick  was  bent  once 
around  each  side  of  the  tube,  or  elongated  pole.  With  a  battery  of 
8  cells  of  two  square  feet  each  (16  square  feet)  arranged  as  a  single 
pair,  a  lifting  power  of  1,350  pounds  was  induced.  The  single  thick 
copper  rod  having  then  been  replaced  with  a  bundle  of  60  copper 
wires,  each  dne-twenty-fifth  of  an  inch  thick,  the  magnet  lifted 
1,856  pounds.  This  remarkable  success  of  the  "multiple  coil"  led 
Joule  to  increase  the  number  of  coils  in  the  former  tube-like  magnet. 
The  four  wires  each  one-eleventh  of  an  inch  thick  were  replaced  by 
twenty-one  wires  of  the  same  length,  each  one-twenty-fifth  of  an 
inch  thick,  the  whole  being  bound  together  by  cotton  tape.  "  Six- 
teen cast-iron  cells  of  the  same  size  as  those  previously  described, 
[each  of  two  square  feet,]  were  then  arranged  in  a  series  of  four, 
and  connected  by  sufficiently  good  conductors  to  the  electro-magnet. 
The  power  which  was  then  necessary  to  break  it  from  its  armature, 
was  2,775  pounds,  or  nearly  a  ton  and  a  quarter.  An  immense 
weight,  when  it  is  considered  that  the  whole  apparatus  —  magnet 
armature  and  coils — weighs  less  than  26  pounds. "f 

*  Sturgeon's  Annals  of  Electricity,  etc.  Sept.  1840,  vol.  v.  pp.  190,  191.  A  second 
much  smaller  magnet  of  similar  form,  being  2.7  inches  long,  and  half  an  inch  in 
diameter,  wrapped  with  7  feet  of  insulated  copper  wire  one-twentieth  of  an  inch 
thick,  and  weighing  1,057  grains,  (somewhat  over  two  ounces,)  lifted  49  pounds.  A 
third  magnet  elliptical  in  form  (0.37  inch  broad  and  0.15  inch  thick)  0.7  inch  long, 
covered  with  19  inches  of  copper  wire  one-fortieth  of  an  inch  thick,  and  weighing 
65.3  grains,  lifted  12  pounds.  And  a  fourth  magnet  one  twenty-fifth  of  an  inch 
thick  and  one-quarter  of  an  inch  long,  with  three  turns  of  fine  copper  wire, 
weighing  half  a  grain,  lifted  1,417  grains. 

t  Sturgeon's  Annals  of  Electricity,  Dec.  1840,  vol.  v.  pp.  471,  472. 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR: — NOTES.  393 

Stimulated  by  Joule's  successes,  several  attempts  were  made  by 
others,  embodying  the  same  principle  of  narrow  but  greatly  ex- 
tended poles.  Mr.  Richard  Roberts  constructed  what  may  be  called 
a  "  disk "  magnet,  the  square  plate  of  iron  being  nearly  two  and  a 
half  inches  thick,  with  a  planed  face  six  and  five-eighths  inches  on 
the  sides,  and  having  a  supporting  eye  formed  on  its  back.  Four 
equidistant  parallel  grooves  each  three-eighths  of  an  inch  wide  and 
one  inch  and  a  quarter  deep,  divided  the  square  face  into  five  equal 
oblong  "poles.7'  A  bundle  of  36  copper  wires  (No.  18)  was  coiled 
in  and  out  about  these  five  poles,  in  three  turns.  The  magnet  with 
its  coils  weighed  35  pounds.  The  armature,  a  similar  square  plate 
one  inch  and  a  half  thick,  (without  grooves,)  weighed  23  pounds. 
With  a  battery  of  eight  pairs,  (each  about  100  square  inches,  or 
five-sevenths  of  a  square  foot,)  the  magnet  sustained  2,950  pounds; 
about  one  ton  and  a  third.*  This  magnet  is  obviously  equivalent 
to  two  or  more  of  Joule's,  placed  side  by  side.  Mr.  Joseph  Rad- 
ford,  about  the  same  time,  devised  another  form  of  "disk"  magnet 
much  more  novel  in  construction.  In  this  case  a  circular  plate  9 
inches  in  diameter  and  about  an  inch  thick,  (provided  with  a  sup- 
porting eye  at  the  middle  of  its  back,)  had  a  spiral  groove  cut  in 
its  planed  face,  one-quarter  of  an  inch  wide  and  three-eighths  of 
an  inch  deep,  making  from  the  center  about  six  turns,  and  leaving 
a  spiral  ridge  of  metal  at  the  face  about  half  an  inch  thick.  Its 
weight  (without  wire)  was  16  pounds  2  ounces,  or  with  the  wire 
coil  18  pounds  4  ounces.  ,The  armature,  a  similar  smooth  disk  of 
about  two-thirds  the  thickness  of  the  magnet,  weighed  14  pounds 
14  ounces.  The  coil,  a  bundle  of  23  small  copper  wires  entering 
from  the  back  through  a  hole  at  the  center  of  the  disk  and  follow- 
ing the  spiral  groove,  (which  it  filled,)  passed  out  at  the  edge  of,  the 
disk.  By  this  singular  disposition  of  the  coil,  the  single  spiral 
"pole"  or  narrow  ridge  (half  an  inch  in  thickness)  had  a  continu- 
ous north  polarity  on  the  one  side  and  a  continuous  adjacent  south 
polarity  on  its  other  side:  being  in  the  same  condition  as  a  long 
narrow  bar  of  soft  iron  having  a  galvanic  current  passing  longitu- 
dinally along  its  opposite  sides  in  the  same  direction.  With  a  bat- 
tery of  twelve  pairs  this  spiral  disk  magnet  sustained  2,500  pounds; 
about  one  ton  and  one-eighth,  f 

Another  variety  of  the  disk  magnet  devised  by  Joule,  presented 
an  annular  face  of  about  12  inches  exterior  diameter  and  about  8 
inches  interior  diameter,  having  48  radial  grooves  separating  48 
radial  poles.  A  bundle  of  16  copper  wires  bent  alternately  in  and 
out  about  these  48  lateral  ridges  or  face  cogs,  produced  a  series  of 

*  Sturgeon's  Annals  of  Electricity,  Feb.  1841,  vol.  vi.  pp.  167,  168. 
t  Sturgeon's  Annals  of  Electricity,  March,  1841,  vol.  vi.  p.  231. 


394  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

alternate  poles.  This  was  virtually  an  extension  of  the  Roberts 
series  of  magnetic  poles,  equivalent  to  a  series  of  24  of  Joule's 
narrow  magnets  placed  side  by  side  and  arranged  radially  in  a 
ring.  This  circular  battery  of  magnets,  excited  by  16  cups  arranged 
in  a  series  of  four,  lifted  2,710  pounds.* 

It  will  be  noticed  that  in  each  of  these  interesting  improvements 
on  the  simple  horse-shoe  " quantity"  magnet,  the  highest  efficiency 
was  obtained  by  adopting  Henry's  system  of  "  multiple  coils." 

This  system  has  also  been  most  successfully  applied  by  Z.  T. 
Gramme,  of  Paris,  to  the  revolving  annular  inductor  of  his  very 
ingenious  and  powerful  form  of  magneto-electric  machine. 


Note  E.     (From  p. 

ABSTRACT   OF   PAPER   OX    SELF-INDUCTION. 

Professor  Bache,  as  a  Secretary  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society,  (knowing  that  the  " Transactions "  of  the  Body,  containing 
Henry's  important  Memoir,  would  not  be  formally  published  for  a 
year  or  more,)  with  that  energetic  zeal  of  friendship  so  characteristic 
of  the  man,  obtained  permission  to  publish  an  abstract  of  the  pre- 
vious verbal  communication;  which  he  accordingly  proceeded  to 
have  at  once  inserted  in  the  forthcoming  number  of  the  Franklin 
Institute  "Journal,"  with  the  following  prefatory  letter  addressed 
"To  the  Committee  of  Publication"  of  that  Journal: 

GENTLEMEN: — The  American  Philosophical  Society,  at  their 
last  stated  meeting,  authorized  the  publication  of  the  following 
abstract  of  a  verbal  communication  made  to  the  Society,  by  Pro- 
fessor Henry,  on  the  16th  of  January  last.  A  memoir  on  this  sub- 
ject has  been  since  submitted  to  the  Society,  containing  an  extension 
of  the  subject,  the  primary  fact  in  relation  to  which  was  observed 
by  Professor  Henry  as  early  as  1832,  and  announced  by  him  in  the 
American  Journal  of  Science.  Mr.  Faraday  having  recently  entered 
upon  a  similar  train  of  observations,  the  immediate  publication  of 
the  accompanying  is  important,  that  the  prior  claims  of  our  fellow 
countryman  may  not  be  overlooked. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

A.  D.  BACHE, 

One  of  the  Secretaries  Am.  Philos.  Soc, 
Philadelphia,  Feb.  7th,  1835. 

*  Sturgeon's  Annals  of  Electricity,  June,  1841,  vol.  vi.  p.  432. 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR:  —  NOTES.  395 

"  Extract  from  the  proceedings  of  the  stated  meeting  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society,  January  16 ,  1835. 

"The  following  facts  in  reference  to  the  spark,  shock,  &c.  from 
a  galvanic  battery,  when  the  poles  are  united  by  a  long  conductor, 
were  communicated  by  Professor  Joseph  Henry,  and  those  relating 
to  the  spark  were  illustrated  experimentally : 

"  1 .  A  long  wire  gives  a  more  intense  spark  than  a  short  one. 
There  is,  however,  a  length  beyond  which  the  effect  is  not  increased ; 
a  wire  of  120  feet  gave  about  the  same  intensity  of  spark  as  one  of 
240  feet. 

"  2.  A  thick  wire  gives  a  larger  spark  than  a  smaller  one  of  the 
same  length. 

"  3.  A  wire  coiled  into  a  helix,  gives  a  more  vivid  spark  than 
the  same  wire  when  uncoiled. 

"4.  A  ribbon  of  copper,  coiled  into  a  flat  spiral,  gives  a  more 
intense  spark  than  any  other  arrangement  yet  tried. 

"  5.  The  effect  is  increased,  by  using  a  longer  and  wider  ribbon, 
to  an  extent  not  yet  determined.  The  greatest  effect  has  been  pro- 
duced by  a  coil  96  feet  long,  and  weighing  15  pounds;  a  larger 
conductor  has  not  been  received. 

"  6.  A  ribbon  of  copper,  first  doubled  into  two  strands,  and  then 
coiled  into  a  flat  spiral,  gives  no  spark,  or  a  very  feeble  one. 

"  7.  Large  copper  handles,  soldered  to  the  ends  of  the  coil  of  96 
feet,  and  these  both  grasped,  one  by  each  hand,  a  shock  is  felt  at 
the  elbows,  when  the  contact  is  broken  in  a  battery  with  one  and  a 
half  feet  of  zinc  surface. 

"  8.  A  shock  is  also  felt  when  the  copper  of  the  battery  is  grasped 
with  one  hand,  and  one  of  the  handles  with  the  other;  the  inten- 
sity however  is  not  as  great  as  in  the  last  case.  This  method  of 
receiving  the  shock  may  be  called  the  direct  method,  the  other  the 
lateral  one. 

"  9.  The  decomposition  of  a  liquid  is  effected  by  the  use  of  the 
coil  from  a  single  pair,  by  intermitting  the  current,  and  introducing 
a  pair  of  decomposing  wires. 

"10.  A  mixture  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  is  also  exploded  by 
using  the  coil,  and  breaking  the  contact,  in  a  bladder  containing  the 
mixture. 

"11.  The  property  of  producing  an  intense  spark  is  induced,  on 
a  short  wire,  by  introducing,  at  any  point  of  a  compound  galvanic 
current,  a  large  flat  spiral. 

"12.  A  spark  is  produced  even  when  the  plates  of  a  single  bat- 
tery are  separated  by  a  foot  or  more  of  diluted  acid. 


396  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH   HENRY. 

"  13.  Little  or  no  increase  in  the  effect  is  produced  by  inserting  a 
piece  of  soft  iron  into  the  center  of  a  flat  spiral. 

"14.  The  effect  produced  by  an  electro-magnet,  in  giving  the 
shock,  is  due  principally  to  the  coiling  of  the  long  wire  which  sur- 
rounds the  soft  iron."  * 


Note  F.     (From  p. 

OSCILLATION    OF   ELECTRICAL   DISCHARGE. 

Sir  William  Thomson,  in  1853,  indicated  the  probability  of  an 
oscillatory  character  in  the  electrical  discharge;  remarking:  "It 
appears  to  me  not  improbable  that  double,  triple,  and  quadruple 
flashes  of  lightning  which  I  have  frequently  seen  on  the  continent 
of  Europe,  and  sometimes  though  not  so  frequently  in  this  country, 
(lasting  generally  long  enough  to  allow  an  observer  after  his  atten- 
tion is  drawn  by  the  first  light  of  the  flash,  to  turn  his  head  around 
and  see  distinctly  the  course  of  the  lightning  in  the  sky,)  result  from 
the  discharge  possessing  this  oscillatory  character.  -  -  -  The 
decomposition  of  water  by  electricity  from  an  ordinary  electrical 
machine,  in  which,  as  has  been  shown  by  Faraday,  more  than  the 
electro-chemical  equivalent  of  the  whole  electricity  that  passes, 
appears  in  oxygen  and  hydrogen  rising  mixed  from  each  pole,  is 
probably  due  to  electrical  oscillations  in  the  discharges  consequent 
on  the  successive  sparks."  f 

In  a  foot-note  at  this  point  of  the  paper,  the  eminent  physicist 
adds:  "This  explanation  occurred  to  me  about  a  year  and  a  half 
ago,  in  consequence  of  the  conclusions  regarding  the  oscillatory 
nature  of  the  discharge  in  certain  circumstances,  drawn  from  mathe- 
matical investigation.  I  afterward  found  that  it  had  been  sug- 
gested as  a  conjecture  by  Helmholtz  in  his  Erhaltung  der  Kraft, 
(Berlin,  1847,)  in  the  following  terms:  'It  is  easy  to  explain  this 
law,  if  Ave  assume  that  the  discharge  of  a  battery  is  not  a  simple 
motion  of  the  electricity  in  one  direction,  but  a  backAvard  and  for- 
Avard  motion  betAA7een  the  coatings,  in  oscillations  AAThich  become 
continually  smaller  until  the  entire  vis  viva  is  destroyed  by  the  sum 
of  the  resistances.  The  notion  that  the  current  of  discharge  con- 
sists of  alternately  opposed  currents  is  favored  by  the  alternately 
opposed  magnetic  actions  of  the  same;  and  secondly  by  the  phe- 
nomena observed  by  Wollaston  while  attempting  to  decompose 

*  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  March,  1835,  vol.  xv.  pp.  169, 170. 
t  L.  E.  D.  Phil.  Mag.  June,  1853,  vol.  v.  pp.  400,  401. 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR: NOTES.  397 

water  by  electric  shocks,  that  both  descriptions  of  gases  are  exhibited 
at  both  electrodes/  "  * 

Seventeen  years  after  Henry's  experimental  determination,  Mr. 
W.  Feddersen,  in  1859,  observed  the  oscillatory  nature  of  the  elec- 
trical discharge,  by  employing  the  revolving  mirror  of  Wheatstone, 
as  first  suggested  by  Sir  William  Thomson.")" 

It  is  remarkable  however  that  very  early  in  the  century,  the 
return  discharge  of  electricity  appears  to  have  been  distinctly  noted. 
In  Gilbert's  Annalen  for  1806,  the  phenomenon  of  a  "back-stroke" 
is  spoken  of  as  being  "  not  uncommon  in  thunder-storms."  J  And 
twenty  years  before  the  conjecture  by  Helmholtz,  or  in  1827,  the 
same  suspicion  or  rather  conviction  of  an  oscillatory  discharge  was 
distinctly  expressed  by  Felix  Savary,  who  perplexed  by  the  irregu- 
larity of  magnetization  in  small  needles,  when  effected  by  the  Ley- 
den  jar,  thus  comments  on  the  problem : 

"An  electrical  discharge  is  a  phenomenon  of  motion.  Is  this 
motion  a  translation  of  matter — continuous  —  in  a  fixed  direction? 
If  so,  the  alternations  of  opposite  magnetisms  observed  at  various 
distances  from  a  rectilinear  conductor,  or  in  a  helix  for  gradually 
increasing  discharges,  would  be  due  solely  to  the  mutual  re-actions 
of  the  magnetic  particles  in  the  steel  needles.  The  manner  in  which 
the  behavior  of  a  wire  changes  with  its  length,  appears  to  me  to 
exclude  this  supposition.  Does  the  electric  flow  during  a  discharge 
consist  on  the  contrary  of  a  series  of  oscillations  transmitted  from 
the  wire  to  the  surrounding  mediums,  and  speedily  enfeebled  by 
resistances  which  increase  rapidly  with  the  absolute  velocity  of  the 
agitated  particles?  All  the  phenomena  lead  to  this  hypothesis; 
which  assumes  that  not  only  the  intensity,  but  the  direction  of  the 
magnetism,  depends  on  the  laws  according  to  which  the  minute 
motions  die  away  in  the  wire,  in  the  medium  surrounding  it,  and  in 
the  substance  which  receives  and  preserves  the  magnetism.  The 
oscillations  in  the  wire  would  have  an  absolute  velocity  so  much  the 
less,  and  would  subside  so  much  the  more  rapidly,  accordingly  as 
the  wire  were  longer,  as  it  were  finer,  and  as  the  resistance  belong- 
ing to  its  constitution  were  greater.  It  may  thus  be  explained  how 
there  is  for  a  rectilinear  conductor  and  a  given  discharge,  a  length 
of  wire  which  will  produce  the  strongest  magnetization ;  if  the 

*  Quoted  from  a  memoir  "On  the  Conservation  of  Force,"  by  Dr.  H.  Helm- 
holtz. Read  before  the  Physical  Society  of  Berlin,  on  the  23d  of  July,  1847.  The 
memoir  was  translated  by  Dr.  J.  Tyndall,  and  published  in  his  selection  of  "Sci- 
entific Memoirs,"  London,  1853,  vol.  i.  p.  143.  This  interesting  collection  of  foreign 
papers  forms  a  continuation  of  Taylor's  "Scientific  Memoirs,"  in  five  volumes. 

t  Poggendorff  's  Annalen  der  Physik,  1859,  vol.  cviii.  p.  499. 

t  Gilbert's  Annalen  der  Physik,  1806,  vol.  xxiv.  p.  351. 


398  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH   HENRY. 

length  is  less,  the  minute  motions  diminish  too  slowly;  if  greater, 
their  intensity  is  too  much  enfeebled."  * 


Note  G.     (From  p. 
WHEATSTONE'S  CHRONOSCOPE. 

For  the  purpose  of  measuring  and  registering  extremely  short 
intervals  of  time,  Professor  Charles  Wheatstone,  extending  his  earlier 
experiments  of  1834,  on  the  velocity  of  electricity  by  means  of  a 
revolving  mirror,  projected  a  "  chronoscope  "  based  on  the  automatic 
agency  of  electro-magnetism.  Among  the  applications  in  view 
were  the  determination  of  the  exact  times  of  falling  bodies,  the 
duration  of  an  explosion  of  gunpowder,  etc.  At  what  time  this 
ingenious  device  was  practically  developed,  it  is  difficult  to  say; 
but  we  learn  that  M.  Konstantinoff,  an  accomplished  Russian  Artil- 
lery Officer,  visiting  England  in  1842,  had  this  project  shown  or 
explained  to  him  by  Professor  Wheatstone.  Looking  at  the  possi- 
bilities of  this  suggestion  from  his  professional  stand-point,  M. 
Konstantinoff  at  once  directed  his  attention  to  the  contrivance  of  a 
modification  of  the  arrangement,  adapted  to  measure  the  velocity 
of  a  projectile  at  various  points  of  its  flight.  Invoking  the  well- 
known  electrical  knowledge  and  skill  of  his  friend  Mons.  L.  Bre- 
guet  of  Paris  in  1843,  the  two  commenced  in  June  of  that  year  the 
construction  of  a  machine  which  should  indicate  and  record  30  or 
40  successive  observations  within  the  few  seconds  of  a  projectile's 
flight.  The  apparatus  was  successfully  completed  May  29,  1844; 
and  an  account  of  it  was  read  before  the  French  Academy,  January 
20th,  1845.  f  In  this  instrument,  the  various  records  were  made  on 
a  timed  revolving  cylinder,  by  styles  or  pencils,  actuated  by  electro- 
magnetic motions  at  the  several  moments  of  breaking  successive 
circuits.  Wheatstone's  reclamation,  and  account  of  his  own  inven- 
tion, were  published  four  months  later,  through  the  same  channel.  J 

The  two  chronoscopes  were  undoubtedly  the  same  in  principle, 
although  Wheatstone's  gave  but  two  records; — an  initial  one  by 
the  falling  or  projected  ball  breaking  the  galvanic  circuit,  and  a 
terminal  one  by  a  re-establishment  of  the  circuit  on  the  ball  striking 
a  horizontal  or  a  vertical  spring  plate  and  thus  causing  a  metallic 
contact  to  be  made.  For  measuring  the  interval,  Wheatstone  em- 

*  Annales  de  Chimie  et  de  Physique,  1827,  vol.  xxxiv.  pp.  54,  55. 

t  Comptes  Rendus,  Jan.  1845,  vol.  xx.  pp.  157-162. 

t  Comptes  Rendus,  May  26, 1845,  vol.  xx.  pp.  1554-1561. 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR: NOTES.  399 

ployed  a  revolving  time  index  on  a  dial,  arrested  by  the  armature 
of  an  electro-magnet.  The  arrangement  adopted  by  Breguet  and 
Konstantinoff  in  1844,  resembled  much  more  closely  that  described 
and  published  by  Henry  in  1843,  than  that  devised  by  Wheatstone 
and  published  in  1845;  and  both  were  really  more  complete  for  the 
specific  purpose  of  measuring  the  velocity  of  projectiles,  than  the 
last-named,  and  first  invented.  Moreover,  while  the  latter  was  a 
" chronoscope,"  the  two  former  were  really  "chronographs." 

Henry's  second  plan  of  registering  by  the  induction  spark,  was 
far  more  delicate  and  exact  than  either;  as  it  dispensed  with  the 
inertia  of  a  moving  galvanometer  needle,  or  magnetic  armature. 


Note  H.    (From  p.  275.) 
HENRY'S  "PROGRAMME  OF  ORGANIZATION." 

The  plan  for  the  organization  and  conduct  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  as  more  fully  presented  by  the  Secretary  in  his  first 
annual  report  made  December  8th,  1847,  and  adopted  by  the  Board 
of  Regents  December  13th,  1847,  is  regarded  as  sufficiently  inter- 
esting and  important  to  be  here  given  at  length  : 

"  INTRODUCTION. 

General  considerations  which  should  serve  as  a  guide  in  adopting 
a  Plan  of  Organization. 

1.  "Will  of  Smithson.     The  property  is  bequeathed  to  the  United 
States  of  America,  "to  found  at  Washington,  under  the  name  of 
the  SMITHSONIAN  INSTITUTION,  an  establishment  for  the  increase 
and  diffusion  of  knowledge  among  men." 

2.  The  bequest  is  for  the  benefit  of  mankind.    The  Government 
of  the  United  States  is  merely  a  trustee  to  carry  out  the  design  of 
the  testator. 

3.  The  Institution  is  not  a  national  establishment,  as  is  frequently 
supposed,  but  the  establishment  of  an  individual,  and  is  to  bear  and 
perpetuate  his  name. 

4.  The  objects  of  the  Institution  are,  1st,  to  increase,  and  2d,  to 
diffuse  knowledge  among  men. 

5.  These  two  objects  should  not  be  confounded  with  one  another. 
The  first  is  to  enlarge  the  existing  stock  of  knowledge  by  the  addi- 
tion of  new  truths ;  and  the  second,  to  disseminate  knowledge,  thus 
increased,  among  men. 


400  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

«- 

6.  The  will  makes  no  restriction  in  favor  of  any  particular  kind 
of  knowledge;  hence  all  branches  are  entitled  to  a  share  of  atten- 
tion. 

7.  Knowledge  can  be  increased  by  different  methods  of  facilita- 
ting and  promoting  the  discovery  of  new  truths ;  and  can  be  most 
extensively  diffused  among  men  by  means  of  the  press. 

8:  To  effect  the  greatest  amount  of  good,  the  organization  should 
be  such  as  to  enable  the  Institution  to  produce  results,  in  the  way  of 
increasing  and  diffusing  knowledge,  which  cannot  be  produced  either 
at  all  or  so  efficiently  by  the  existing  institutions  in  our  country. 

9.  The  organization  should  also  be  such  as  can  be  adopted  provi- 
sionally; can  be  easily  reduced  to  practice,  receive  modifications,  or 
be  abandoned,  in  whole  or  in  part,  without  a  sacrifice  of  the  funds. 

1 0.  In  order  to  compensate,  in  some  measure,  for  the  loss  of  time 
occasioned  by  the  delay  of  eight  years  in  establishing  the  Institution, 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  interest  which  has  accrued  should  be 
added  to  the  principal. 

11.  In  proportion  to  the  wide  field  of  knowledge  to  be  cultivated, 
the  funds  are  small.     Economy  should  therefore  be  consulted  in 
the  construction  of  the  building;  and  not  only  the  first  cost  of  the 
edifice  should  be  considered,  but  also  the  continual  expense  of  keep- 
ing it  in  repair,  and  of  the  support  of  the  establishment  necessarily 
connected  with  it.     There  should  also  be  but  few  individuals  per- 
manently supported  by  the  Institution. 

12.  The  plan  and  dimensions  of  the  building  should  be  deter- 
mined by  the  plan  of  the  organization,  and  not  the  converse. 

13.  It  should  be  recollected  that  mankind  in  general  are  to  be 
benefitted  by  the  bequest,  and  that  therefore  all  unnecessary  expen- 
diture on  local  objects  would  be  a  perversion  of  the  trust. 

14.  Besides  the  foregoing  considerations,  deduced  immediately 
from  the  will  of  Smithson,  regard  must  be  had  to  certain  require- 
ments of  the  act  of  Congress  establishing  the  Institution.     These 
are,  a  library,  a  museum,  and  a  gallery  of  art,  with  a  building  on 
a  liberal  scale  to  contain  them. 

SECTION  I. 

Plan  of   Organization   of  the  Institution  in   accordance  with   the 
foregoing  deductions  from  the  Will  of  Smithson. 

To  INCREASE  KNOWLEDGE.  It  is  proposed  —  1.  To  stimulate 
men  of  talent  to  make  original  researches,  by  offering  suitable 
rewards  for  memoirs  containing  new  truths;  and,  —  2.  To  appro- 
priate annually  a  portion  of  the  income  for  particular  researches, 
under  the  direction  of  suitable  persons. 


DISCOURSE   OF    W.  B.  TAYLOR: NOTES.  401 

To  DIFFUSE  KNOWLEDGE.  It  is  proposed  —  1.  To  publish  a 
series  of  periodical  reports  on  the  progress  of  the  different  branches 
of  knowledge;  and,  —  2.  To  publish  occasionally  separate  treatises 
on  subjects  of  general  interest. 

DETAILS   OF   THE   PLAN   TO   INCREASE    KNOWLEDGE. 

I.  By  stimulating  researches. — 1.  Facilities  afforded  for  the  pro- 
duction of  original  memoirs  on  all  branches  of  knowledge.     2.  The 
memoirs  thus  obtained  to  be  published  in  a  series  of  volumes,  in  a 
quarto  form,  and  entitled  Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge. 

3.  No  memoir  on  subjects  of  physical  science  to  be  accepted  for 
publication  which  does  not  furnish  a  positive  addition  to  human 
knowledge,  resting  on  original  research ;  and  all  unverified  specula- 
tions to  be  rejected.  *     4.  Each  memoir  presented  to  the  Institution 
to  be  submitted  for  examination  to  a  commission  of  persons  of 
reputation  for  learning  in  the  branch  to  which  the  memoir  pertains; 
and  to  be  accepted  for  publication  only  in  case  the  report  of  this 
commission  is  favorable.     5.  The  commission  to  be  chosen  by  the 
officers  of  the  Institution,  and  the  name  of  the  author  (as  far  as 
practicable)  concealed,  unless  a  favorable  decision  be  made.     6.  The 
volumes  of  the  memoirs  to  be  exchanged  for  the  Transactions  of 
literary  and  scientific  societies,  and  copies  to  be  given  to  all  the 
colleges  and  principal  libraries  in  this  country.     One  part  of  the 
remaining  copies  may  be  offered  for  sale;  and  the  other  carefully 
preserved,  to  form  complete  sets  of  the  work,  to  supply  the  demand 
from  new  institutions.     7.  An  abstract  or  popular  account  of  the 
contents  of  these  memoirs  to  be  given  to  the  public  through  the 
annual  report  of  the  Regents  to  Congress. 

II.  By  appropriating  a  part  of  the  income,  annually,  to  special 
objects  of  research,  under  the  direction  of  suitable  persons. — 1.  The 
objects  and  the  amount  appropriated,  to  be  recommended  by  coun- 
sellors of  the  Institution.     2.  Appropriations  in  different  years  to 
different  objects;  so  that  in  course  of  time  each  branch  of  knowl- 
edge may  receive  a  share.      3.   The  results  obtained  from  these 
appropriations  to  be  published,  with  the  memoirs  before  mentioned, 
in  the  volumes  of  the  Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowledge. 

4.  Examples  of  objects  for  which  appropriations  may  be  made : 

*"It  has  been  supposed  from  the  adoption  of  this  proposition,  that  we  are  dis- 
posed to  undervalue  abstract  speculation :  on  the  contrary,  we  know  that  all  the 
advances  in  true  science,  (namely  a  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  phenomena,)  are 
made  by  provisionally  adopting  well-conditioned  hypotheses,  the  product  of  the 
imagination,  and  subsequently  verifying  them  by  an  appeal  to  experiment  and 
observation."  (Explanations  of  the  programme.) 
26 


402  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

(a.)  System  of  extended  meteorological  observations  for  solving 
the  problem  of  American  storms.  (6.)  Explorations  in  descriptive 
natural  history,  and  geological,  magnetical,  and  topographical  sur- 
veys, to  collect  materials  for  the  formation  of  a  Physical  Atlas  of 
the  United  States,  (c.)  Solution  of  experimental  problems,  such  as 
a  new  determination  of  the  weight  of  the  earth,  of  the  velocity  of 
electricity,  and  of  light;  chemical  analyses  of  soils  and  plants; 
collection  and  publication  of  scientific  facts,  accumulated  in  the 
offices  of  Government,  (d.)  Institution  of  statistical  inquiries  with 
reference  to  physical,  moral,  and  political  subjects,  (e.)  Historical 
researches,  and  accurate  surveys  of  places  celebrated  in  American 
history.  (/.)  Ethnological  researches,  particularly  with  reference 
to  the  different  races  of  men  in  North  America;  also,  explorations 
and  accurate  surveys  of  the  mounds  and  other  remains  of  the 
ancient  people  of  our  country. 

DETAILS   OF   THE    PLAN   FOR   DIFFUSING   KNOWLEDGE. 

I.  By  the  publication  of  a  series  of  reports,  giving  an  account  of 
the  new  discoveries  in  science,  and  of  the  changes  made  from  year 
to  year  in  all  branches  of  knowledge  not  strictly  professional* — 
1.  These  reports  will  diffuse  a  kind  of  knowledge  generally  in- 
teresting, but  which  at  present  is  inaccessible  to  the  public.  Some 
of  the  reports  may  be  published  annually,  others  at  longer  intervals, 
as  the  income  of  the  Institution  or  the  changes  in  the  branches  of 
knowledge  may  indicate.  2.  The  reports  are  to  be  prepared  by 
collaborators  eminent  in  the  different  branches  of  knowledge. 
3.  Each  collaborator  to  be  furnished  with  the  journals  and  publi- 
cations, domestic  and  foreign,  necessary  to  the  compilation  of  his 
report;  to  be  paid  a  certain  sum  for  his  labors,  and  to  be  named  on 
the  title-page  of  the  report.  4.  The  reports  to  be  published  in 
separate  parts,  so  that  persons  interested  in  a  particular  branch  can 
procure  the  parts  relating  to  it  without  purchasing  the  whole. 
5.  These  reports  may  be  presented  to  Congress,  for  partial  distri- 
bution, the  remaining  copies  to  be  given  to  literary  and  scientific 
institutions,  and  sold  to  individuals  for  a  moderate  price,  f 

*  This  part  of  the  plan  has  been  but  partially  carried  out. 

t  The  following  are  some  of  the  subjects  which  may  be  embraced  in  the  reports: 

I.  PHYSICAL  CLASS.— 1.  Physics,  including  astronomy,  natural  philosophy,  chem- 
istry, and  meteorology.    2.  Natural  history,  including  botany,  zoology,  geology,  &c. 
3.  Agriculture.    4.  Application  of  science  to  arts. 

II.  MORAL   AND   POLITICAL   CLASS.— 5.    Ethnology,   including   particular   his- 
tory, comparative  philology,  antiquities,  &c.    6.  Statistics  and  political  economy. 
7.  Mental  and  moral  philosophy.    8.  A  survey  of  the  political  events  of  the  world; 
penal  reform,  &c. 

III.  LITERATURE  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS.— 9.  Modern  literature.  10.  The  fine  arts, 
and  their  application  to  the  useful  arts.  11.  Bibliography.  12.  Obituary  notices  of 
distinguished  individuals. 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR: NOTES.  403 

II.  By  the  publication  of  separate  treatises  on  subjects  of  general 
interest. — 1.  These  treatises  may  occasionally  consist  of  valuable 
memoirs  translated  from  foreign  languages,  or  of  articles  prepared 
under  the  direction  of  the  Institution,  or  procured  by  oifering  pre- 
miums for  the  best  exposition  of  a  given  subject.  2.  The  treatises 
should  in  all  cases  be  submitted  to  a  commission  of  competent 
judges,  previous  to  their  publication.  3.  As  examples  of  these 
treatises,  expositions  may  be  obtained  of  the  present  state  of  the 
several  branches  of  knowledge  mentioned  in  the  table  of  reports. 

SECTION  II. 

Plan  of  Organization,  in  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the  resolutions 
of  the  Board  of  Regents  providing  for  the  two  modes  of  increasing 
and  diffusing  knowledge. 

1 .  The  act  of  Congress  establishing  the  Institution  contemplated 
the  formation  of  a  library  and  a  museum;  and  the  Board  of  Regents, 
including  these  objects  in  the  plan  of  organization,  resolved  to  divide 
the  income  *  into  two  equal  parts. 

2.  One  part  to  be  appropriated  to  increase  and  diffuse,  knowledge 
by  means  of  publications  and  researches,  agreeably  to  the  scheme 
before  given.     The  other  part  to  be  appropriated  to  the  formation 
of  a  library  and  a  collection  of  objects  of  nature  and  of  art. 

3.  These  two  plans  are  not  incompatible  with  one  another. 

4.  To  carry  out  the  plan  before  described,  a  library  will  be  re- 
quired, consisting,  1st,  of  a  complete  collection  of  the  transactions 
and  proceedings  of  all  the  learned  societies  in  the  world ;  2d,  of  the 
more  important  current  periodical  publications,  and  other  works 
necessary  in  preparing  the  periodical  reports. 

5.  The  Institution  should  make  special  collections,  particularly 
of  objects  to  illustrate  and  verify  its  own  publications. 

6.  Also,  a  collection  of  instruments  of  research  in  all  branches 
of  experimental  science. 

7.  With  reference  to  the  collection  of  books,  other  than  those  men- 
tioned above,  catalogues  of  all  the  different  libraries  in  the  United 
States  should  be  procured,  in  order  that  the  valuable  books  first 
purchased  may  be  such  as  are  not  to  be  found  in  the  United  States. 

*  The  amount  of  the  Smithsonian  bequest  received  into  the  Treasury 

of  the  United  States  is .—  $515,169  00 

Interest  on  the  same  to  July  1, 1846,  (devoted  to  the  erection  of  the 

building) 242, 129  00 

Annual  income  from  the  bequest 30,910  14 

[The  expedient  of  devoting  one-half  the  income  to  the  Congressional  pro- 
gramme, was  by  the  urgency  and  influence  of  Henry,  some  years  afterward  re- 
voked: though  not  without  a  violent  opposition  by  the  Library  advocates.] 


404  MEMORIAL    OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

8.  Also,  catalogues  of  memoirs,  and  of  books  and  other  materials, 
should  be  collected  for  rendering  the  Institution  a  centre  of  biblio- 
graphical knowledge,  whence  the  student  may  be  directed  to  any 
work  which  he  may  require. 

9.  It  is  believed  that  the  collections  in  natural  history  will  in- 
crease by  donation  as  rapidly  as  the  income  of  the  Institution  can 
make  provision  for  their  reception,  and  therefore  it  will  seldom  be 
necessary  to  purchase  articles  of  this  kind. 

10.  Attempts  should  be  made  to  procure  for  the  gallery  of  art 
casts  of  the  most  celebrated  articles  of  ancient  and  modern  sculp- 
ture. 

11.  The  arts  may  be  encouraged  by  providing  a  room,  free  of 
expense,  for  the  exhibition  of  the  objects  of  the  Art-Union  and 
other  similar  societies. 

12.  A  small  appropriation  should  annually  be  made  for  models 
of  antiquities,  such  as  those  of  the  remains  of  ancient  temples,  &c. 

13.  For  the  present,  or  until  the  building  is  fully  completed, 
besides  the  Secretary,  no  permanent  assistant  will  be  required,  except 
one,  to  act  as  librarian. 

14.  The  Secretary,  by  the  law  of  Congress,  is  alone  responsible  to 
the  Regents.     He  shall  take  charge  of  the  building  and  property, 
keep  a  record  of  proceedings,  discharge  the  duties  of  librarian  and 
keeper  of  the  museum,  and  may,  with  the  consent  of  the  Regents, 
employ  assistants. 

15.  The  Secretary  and  his  assistants  (during  the  session  of  Con- 
gress) will  be  required  to  illustrate  new  discoveries  in  science,  and 
to  exhibit  new  objects  of   art.     Distinguished  individuals  should 
also  be  invited  to  give  lectures  on  subjects  of  general  interest." 

In  his  " Explanations  and  illustrations  of  the  programme"  pre- 
sented to  the  Regents  at  the  same  time  with  the  foregoing,  Henry 
remarked:  "The  plan  of  increasing  and  diffusing  knowledge,  pre- 
sented in  the  first  section  of  the  programme,  will  be  found  in  strict 
accordance  with  the  several  propositions  deduced  from  the  Will  of 
Smithson,  and  given  in  the  introduction.  It  embraces — as  a 
leading  feature,  the  design  of  interesting  the  greatest  number  of 
individuals  in  the  operations  of  the  Institution,  and  of  spreading 
its  influence  as  widely  as  possible.  It  forms  an  active  organization, 
exciting  all  to  make  original  researches  who  are  gifted  with  the 
necessary  power,  and  diffusing  a  kind  of  knowledge  now  only 
accessible  to  the  few,  among  all  those  who  are  willing  to  receive  it. 
In  this  country,  though  many  excel  in  the  application  of  science  to 
the  practical  arts  of  life,  few  devote  themselves  to  the  continued 
labor  and  patient  thought  necessary  to  the  discovery  and  develop- 
ment of  new  truths.  -  -  -  The  second  section  of  the  programme 


DISCOUESE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR: NOTES.  405 

gives  —  so  far  as  they  have  been  made  out,  the  details  of  the  part 
of  the  plan  of  organization  directed  by  the  act  of  Congress  estab- 
lishing the  Institution.  The  two  plans,  namely  that  of  publication 
and  original  research,  and  that  of  collections  of  objects  of  nature 
and  art,  are  not  incompatible,  and  may  be  carried  on  harmoniously 
with  each  other.  The  only  effect  which  they  will  have  on  one 
another  is  that  of  limiting  the  operation  of  each,  on  account  of  the 
funds  given  to  the  other/7  * 

That  the  fundamental  assumption  of  this  plan  as  to  the  true  and 
just  interpretation  of  Smithson's  Will,  was  not  however  peculiar  to 
Henry,  is  abundantly  shown  by  many  utterances  of  the  thoughtful 
and  judicious. 

In  an  appreciative  memoir  on  the  scientific  work  of  Smithson, 
written  by  Professor  Walter  R.  Johnson  of  Philadelphia,  in  1844, 
he  speaks  in  his  introductory  remarks  of  the  gratitude  due  to  the 
public  benefactor,  "  whether  with  Franklin  he  found  a  library,  with 
Maclure  endow  an  academy  for  researches  in  natural  science,  or 
with  Smithson  seek  to  stimulate  into  activity  the  spirit  of  philo- 
sophical research,  to  ' increase7  by  deepening  the  sources,  and  ' dif- 
fuse7 by  multiplying  the  channels  of  knowledge.77  And  after 
recounting  the  various  investigations  of  Smithson,  the  writer  con- 
cludes his  review  by  asking :  "  What  would  have  been  the  purposes 
of  an  institution  founded  by  Smithson  in  his  life-time?  To  this 
his  life-time  is  a  sufficient  answer.  Researches  to  'increase7  positive 
knowledge,  and  publications  to  'diffuse7  and  make  that  knowledge 
available  to  mankind, — such  were  the  great  objects  of  his  own  con- 
stant praiseworthy  and  laborious  efforts.77  f 

The  first  Chancellor  of  the  Institution — George  M.  Dallas, 
(Vice-President  of  the  United  States,)  in  his  address  on  the  occa- 
sion of  laying  the  corner-stone  of  the  building,  May  1,  1847, 
remarked  that  the  foundation  was  designed  by  Smithson  to  be 
"an  institution  not  merely  for  disseminating,  spreading,  teaching 
knowledge,  but  also  and  foremost — for  creating,  originating,  'in- 
creasing7 it.77 

A  committee  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
appointed  to  examine  the  "programme  of  organization77  submitted 
by  Henry  to  that  body  for  its  consideration,  in  a  very  full  report 
presented  to  —  and  unanimously  adopted  by — the  Academy  at  Bos- 
ton, December  7, 1847,  expressed  an  entire  concurrence  in  the  views 

'Programme,  and  Explanations.  Smithsonian  Report  for  1847,  pp.  128-139,  of  Sen. 
ed.— pp.  120-131,  of  H.  B.  ed.  Also  Smithsonian  Report  for  1855,  pp.  7-12. 

t  A  Memoir  on  the  Scientific  Character  and  Researches  of  James  Smithson.  By 
Professor  Walter  B.  Johnson.  Bead  before  the  National  Institute,  Washington, 
April  6,  1844. 


406  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

indicated,  and  a  warm  approval  of  the  <  establishment  proposed. 
After  a  recapitulation  and  analysis  of  the  several  details,  the  com- 
mittee pronounced  the  opinion  that  "  The  most  novel  and  important 
feature  of  the  plan,  is  that  which  proposes  to  insure  the  publication 
of  memoirs  and  treatises  on  important  subjects  of  investigation,  and 
to  offer  pecuniary  encouragement  to  men  of  talent  and  attainment 
to  engage  in  scientific  research.  It  is  believed  that  no  institution  in 
the  country  effects  either  of  these  objects  to  any  great  extent.  The 
nearest  approach  to  it  is  the  practice  of  the  Academy  and  other 
Philosophical  Societies,  of  publishing  the  memoirs  accepted  by  them. 
These  however  can  rarely  be  works  of  great  compass.  No  system- 
atic plan  of  compensation  for  the  preparation  of  works  of  scien- 
tific research,  is  known  by  the  committee  to  have  been  attempted 
in  this  or  any  other  country.  It  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  an 
important  impulse  would  be  given  by  the  Institution  in  this  way 
to  the  cultivation  of  scientific  pursuits:  while  the  extensive  and 
widely  ramified  system  of  distribution  and  exchange  by  which  the 
publications  are  to  be  distributed  throughout  the  United  States  and 
the  world,  would  t,ncure  them  a  circulation  which  works  of  science 
could  scarcely  attain  in  any  other  way.  It  is  an  obvious  charac- 
teristic of  this  mode  of  applying  the  funds  of  the  Institution,  that 
its  influence  would  operate  most  widely  throughout  the  country; 
that  locality  would  be  of  comparatively  little  importance  as  far  as 
this  influence  is  concerned;  and  that  the  Union  would  become  (so 
to  say)  in  this  respect  a  great  school  of  mutual  instruction."  * 


Note  I.     (From  p.  275.} 


A  special  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Regents  appointed  Septem- 
ber 8th,  1846,  "to  digest  a  plan  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  the 
Act  to  establish  the  Smithsonian  Institution,"  presented  a  somewhat 
elaborate  report  December  1st,  1846;  in  which  they  thus  express 
themselves : 

"Before  concluding  their  report,  your  committee  desire  to  add  a 
few  words  touching  the  duty  and  qualifications  of  one  of  the  officers 
of  the  Institution.  Inasmuch  as  the  Chancellor  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution  being  a  regent,  can  receive  no  salary  for  his  services,  it 
results  almost  necessarily  that  the  Secretary  should  become  its  chief 

*  This  Report,  dated  Dec.  4,  1847,  was  signed  by  Edward  Everett,  Jared  Sparks, 
Benjamin  Pierce,  Henry  ~W.  Longfellow,  and  Asa  Gray.  (Smithsonian  Report  for 
1847,  pp.  154,  155.— Sen.  ed.) 


DISCOURSE    OF    W.  B.  TAYLOR: NOTES.  407    • 

executive  officer.  The  charter  seems  to  have  intended  that  he 
should  occupy  a  very  responsible  position.  -  .-  -  Your  com- 
mittee will  not  withhold  their  opinion  that  upon  the  choice  of  this 
single  officer  more  probably  than  on  any  one  other  act  of  the  Board, 
will  depend  the  future  good  name  and  success  and  usefulness  of  the 
Smithsonian  Institution/7 

The  Board  of  Regents  two  days  later  proceeded  to  the  election 
of  this  officer :  and  the  result  was  announced  in  the  National  Intel- 
ligencer of  the  following  day  —  December  4th.  In  the  Intelligencer 
for  Saturday,  December  5th,  1846,  the  following  editorial  notice  of 
this  important  proceeding  was  given: 

"  In  a  brief  paragraph  yesterday  we  announced  that  the  Regents 
of  the  Smithsonian  •  Institution  had  fixed  their  choice  of  Secretary, 
on  Joseph  Henry,  LL.  D.  of  Princeton  College,  New  Jersey.  The 
appointment  of  this  officer  was  one  of  their  most  important  and 
responsible  duties.  There  has  perhaps  never  been  an  occasion  in 
the  literary  history  of  our  country  when  so  much  depended  upon 
the  decision  of  so  small  a  number  of  men.  The  success  of  one  of 
the  most  liberal  institutions  in  the  world,  depends  much  on  the  per- 
sonal influence  of  the  Secretary  to  be  chosen  by  the  Regents.  Men 
of  the  highest  literary  distinction  as  well  as  personal  merit  in  the 
nation  were  numbered  among  the  candidates.  It  is  no  disparage- 
ment to  their  attainments  to  point  out  some  of  the  circumstances 
which  sanction  the  decision  just  made;  for  the  statement  of  which, 
and  the  reference  which  it  embraces  to  Professor  Henry,  we  are 
indebted  to  the  pen  of  a  scientific  friend. 

"  Foremost  among  American  savans  stands  the  name  of  FRANK- 
LIN ; —  a  name  which  belongs  to  the  science  of  the  world,  and  can 
hardly  be  said  to  have  a  locality.  Second  perhaps  to  Franklin  only, 
stands  the  name  of  the  philosopher  of  Princeton.  It  is  not  now 
the  time  nor  place  to  enter  into  an  enumeration  of  the  extensive 
advances  made  in  physical  science  by  his  researches.  The  brilliant 
discovery  of  Franklin  of  the  identity  of  lightning  and  the  electrical 
fluid,  might  have  been  supposed  hardly  to  have  left  room  for  a 
gleaner  in  the  field.  Yet  we  venture  the  opinion  that  if  Franklin's 
favorite  aspiration  could  have  been  realized  —  if  he  could  have  been 
permitted  to  revisit  after  a  lapse  of  half  a  century,  the  busy  scenes 
of  human  life,  he  would  have  found  himself  a  novice  in  his  favorite 
science.  A  whole  science — that  of  galvanism,  (voltaic  electricity,) 
electro-magnetism,  magneto-electricity,  thermo-electricity,  etc.  has 
been  created  since  the  time  of  Franklin.  If  the  discovery  of 
Franklin  enables  us  to  make  the  lightning  harmless,  that  of  the 
recent  school  of  philosophers  enables  us  to  turn  it  in  various  ways 
to  practical  account  in  the  business  purposes  of  life.  If  we  ask  who 


408  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

gave  to  the  electro-magnet  of  soft  iron,  now  used  for  the  telegraph, 
its  present  form,  and  discovered  the  laws  by  which  its  effective  power 
could  be  made  active,  the  answer  is  Joseph  Henry.  The  discovery 
was  first  published  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Albany  Institute. 
This  was  the  earliest  contribution  to  the  progress  of  discovery  made 
by  the  individual  whom  the  choice  of  the  Regents  has  elevated  to  the 
first  literary  station  in  the  United  States.  Soon  after  this  discovery 
Henry  was  called  to  the  Chair  of  Experimental  Philosophy  at 
Princeton,  where  for  the  last  fifteen  years  or  more,  he  has  filled  the 
duties  of  his  office  in  such  a  manner  as  to  win  for  him  the  general 
esteem  of  the  literary  community  of  that  time-honored  seat  of 
learning. 

"With  the  relations  between  Professor  Henry  and  his  pupils 
we  have  no  concern  at  present.  It  is  of  other  relations  in  which 
he  has  stood  toward  the  general  cultivators  of  physical  science 
throughout  the  world,  that  we  propose  to  speak.  One  of  the 
most  important  discoveries  of  recent  date,  that  of  the  identity  of 
the  laws  which  regulate  electric  and  magnetic,  and  electro-magnetic 
induction,  was  among  the  early  fruits  of  his  researches  at  Princeton. 
If  Franklin  discovered  the  identity  between  lightning  and  elec- 
tricity, Henry  has  gone  further,  and  reduced  electric  and  magnetic 
action  to  the  same  laws.  It  is  impossible  in  a  short  compass  to  do 
justice  to  the  beauty  and  simplicity  of  Henry's  laws  of  the  action 
of  the  imponderable  agents.  Whoever  will  read  the  progress  of  his 
discoveries  as  published  in  the  Transactions  of  the  American  Philo- 
sophical Society,  will  learn  something  of  the  spirit  of  inductive 
reasoning  of  which  Henry's  researches  furnish  one  of  the  happiest 
illustrations.  These  discoveries  are  not  confined  in  their  sphere  of 
utility  to  the  limited  circulation  of  the  volumes  of  that  Society. 
The  student  of  physical  science  may  read  the  reprints  of  them  and 
the  encomiums  pronounced  upon  them  in  every  language  of  civil- 
ized man  throughout  the  globe.  It  was  doubtless  a  knowledge  of 
the  extensive  reputation  which  these  and  other  discoveries  have  con- 
ferred on  so  young  a  man,  which  influenced  the  Regents  in  their 
selection  of  a  Secretary.  It  is  the  man  that  gives  dignity  to  the 
office,  and  not  the  office  to  the  man.  In  his  new  sphere,  Professor 
Henry  will  have  advantages  for  the  personal  cultivation  and  ad- 
vancement of  science  which  the  limited  means  of  the  Princeton 
College  too  frequently  circumscribed.  Men  of  science  throughout 
the  Union  will  find  a  central  point  for  correspondence,  and  will  pay 
to  the  individual  that  tribute  of  respect  which  among  freemen 
would  never  be  given  to  men  of  less  attainments.  We  doubt  not 
that  the  members  of  the  republic  of  letters  throughout  the  United 
States  will  applaud  the  choice,  and  give  to  the  Regents  their  cordial 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR  : NOTES.  409 

support.  It  is  not  our  purpose  to  enumerate  all  the  claims  which 
the  Secretary  elect  has  on  the  literary  community.  We  have  said 
enough  to  show  that  in  discharging  the  responsible  duty  of  this 
appointment,  the  Regents  have  looked  with  a  single  eye  to  the 
purposes  of  the  munificent  testator,  the  advancement  of  knowledge 
among  men/7  * 


Note  J.     (From  p.  '276.) 
HENRY'S  PURPOSE  OF  ADMINISTRATION. 

Perhaps  no  better  inside  view  of  Henry's  primitive  purpose  can 
be  obtained,  than  from  the  following  private  and  unpublished  letter 
to  his  personal  friend  President  Nott,  of  Union  College,  Schenec- 
tady,  N.  Y.  written  during  a  visit  to  Princeton,  very  shortly  after 
his  election  and  removal  to  Washington : 

"  PRINCETON,  December  26th,  1846. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :  —  Your  favor  of  the  9th  came  to  Princeton 
while  I  was  at  Washington,  and  1  now  answer  it  as  soon  as  possible 
after  my  return.  Please  accept  my  thanks  for  your  kind  congratu- 
lations on  my  appointment  to  the  office  of  Secretary  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution.  I  am  not  sure  however  that  my  appointment 
will  prove  a  subject  of  congratulation.  The  office  is  one  which  I 
have  by  no  means  coveted,  and  which  I  have  accepted  at  the  earnest 
solicitation  of  some  of  the  friends  of  science  in  our  country,  to  pre- 
vent its  falling  into  worse  hands,  and  with  the  hope  of  saving  the 
noble  bequest  of  Smithson  from  being  squandered  on  chimerical  or 
unworthy  projects.  My  first  object  is  to  urge  on  the  Regents  the 
adoption  of  a  simple  practical  plan  of  carrying  out  the  design  of 
the  Testator,  viz:  the  "increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge  among 
men."  For  this  purpose  in  my  opinion  the  organization  of  the 
Institution  should  be  such  as  to  stimulate  original  research  in  all 
branches  of  knowledge,  in  every  part  of  our  country  and  through- 
out the  world,  and  also  to  provide  the  means  of  diffusing  at  stated 
periods  an  account  of  the  progress  of  general  knowledge  compiled 
from  the  Journals  of  all  languages.  To  establish  such  an  organi- 
zation, I  must  endeavor  to  prevent  expenditure  of  a  large  portion 
of  the  funds  of  the  Smithsonian  bequest  on  a  pile  of  brick  and 
mortar,  filled  with  objects  of  curiosity,  intended  for  the  embel- 
lishment of  Washington,  and  the  amusement  of  those  who  visit 
that  city.  My  object  at  present,  is  to  prevent  the  adoption  of  plans 

*  National  Intelligencer,  Washington,  Dec.  5,  1846,  vol.  xxxiv.  no.  10,541. 


410  MEMORIAL   OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

which  may  tend  to  embarrass  the  future  usefulness  of  the  Institu- 
tion, and  for  this  purpose  I  do  not  intend  to  make  any  appointments 
unless  expressly  directed  to  do  so  by  the  Regents,  until  the  organi- 
zation is  definitely  settled. 

"  The  income  of  the  Institution  is  not  sufficient  to  carry  out  a 
fourth  part  of  the  plans  mentioned  in  the  Act  of  Congress,  and  con- 
templated in  the  Report  of  the  Regents.  For  example,  to  support 
the  expense  of  the  Museum  of  the  Exploring  Expedition  presented 
by  Government  to  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  will  require  in 
interest  on  building  and  expense  of  attendance  upward  of  10,000 
dollars  annually.  A  corps  of  Professors  with  necessary  assistants 
will  amount  to  from  12,000  to  15,000  dollars.  From  these  facts 
you  will  readily  perceive  that  unless  the  Institution  is  started  with 
great  caution  there  is  danger  of  absorbing  all  the  income  in  a  few 
objects,  which  in  themselves  may  not  be  the  best  means  of  carrying 
out  the  design  of  the  Testator.  I  have  elaborated  a  simple  plan  of 
organization,  which  I  intend  to  press  with  all  my  energy.  If  this 
is  adopted,  I  am  confident  the  name  of  Smithson  will  become 
familiar  to  every  part  of  the  civilized  world.  If  I  cannot  succeed 
carrying  out  my  plans — at  least  in  a  considerable  degree,  I  shall 
ithdraw^from  the  Institution. 

"  With  much  respect  and  esteem,  I  remain 
"Your  obedient  servant, 

"  JOSEPH  HENRY. 
"Rev.  Dr.  ELIPHALET  NOTT, 

"  President  of  Union  College,  &c.  &c." 


Note  K.     (From  p.  231.) 

STRUGGLE   WITH    THE    LIBRARY   SCHEME. 

From  the  first  organization  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  or 
indeed  from  the  still  earlier  times  of  its  discussion  on  the  floors  of 
Congress,  the  great  need  of  a  general  library  of  reference,  on  a  scale 
comparable  to  that  of  the  large  European  establishments,  felt  by 
every  historical  and  literary  student,  naturally  led  such  readers  to 
look  eagerly  to  the  endowment  of  Smithson  for  the  attainment  of 
this  desirable  end.  On  December  15,  1843,  the  Hon.  Rufus 
Choate — chairman  of  the  Senate  committee  on  the  library,  obtained 
the  reference  of  the  matter  of  Smithson's  bequest  to  his  own  com- 
mittee: and  when  on  June  6,  and  again  on  December  12,  1844, 
Senator  Benjamin  Tappan,  a  member  of  the  same  committee  intro- 
duced a  bill  establishing  on  the  Smithson  fund,  an  agricultural 


DISCOURSE   OF    W.  B.  TAYLOR: NOTES.  411 

institution  with  a  botanical  garden,  natural-history  cabinet,  library, 
laboratory,  lecture-rooms  and  professorships,  Mr.  Choate  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  plan,  on  January  8,  1845,  contended  that  "we  cannot 
do  a  safer,  surer,  more  unexceptionable  thing  with  the  income,  or 
with  a  portion  of  the  income — (perhaps  twenty  thousand  dollars 
a  year  for  a  few  years,)  than  to  expend  it  in  accumulating  a  grand 
and  noble  public  library;  one  which  for  variety,  extent,  and  wealth, 
shall  be  confessed  to  be  equal  to  any  now  in  the  world.  Twenty 
thousand  dollars  a  year  for  twenty-five  years,  are  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars."  And  he  offered  as  a  substitute  section,  "that  a 
sum  not  less  than  20,000  dollars  be  annually  expended  of  the 
interest  of  the  fund  aforesaid,  in  the  purchase  of  books."  *  This 
proposition  however  was  not  adopted. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  Hon.  Robert  Dale  Owen  — 
chairman  of  a  special  committee  on  the  subject,  presented  a  bill 
February  28,  and  April  22, 1 846,  establishing  a  normal  educational 
institution;  a  feature  strongly  opposed  by  Hon.  John  Q.  Adams, 
and  on  the  29th  of  April,  1846,  stricken  out.  On  the  same  day, 
Hon.  Bradford  R.  Wood  moved  as  an  amendment  "that  the  sum 
of  20,000  dollars  of  the  interest  of  said  fund  be  and  is  hereby 
appropriated  annually  for  the  purchase  or  publication  of  a  library." 
A  substitute  bill  presented  by  Hon.  William  J.  Hough  on  the  same 
day,  provided  among  various  specifications,  for  an  appropriation  from 
the  interest  of  the  fund — "not  exceeding  an  average  of  25,000 
dollars  annually  for  the  gradual  formation  of  a  library."  Which 
bill  was  adopted,  f  This  act  passed  the  Senate,  and  became  a  law, 
August  10,  1846. 

This  organic  Act  of  Congress  provided  (in  sect.  3)  a  directorship 
for  the  Institution,  to  consist  of  fifteen  Regents, — six  of  whom 
should  be  members  of  Congress,  selected  equally  from  the  two 
chambers;  and  (in  sect.  9)  authorized  the  said  managers  "to  make 
such  disposal  as  they  shall  deem  best  suited  for  the  promotion  of 
the  purposes  of  the  testator," — of  any  income  not  appropriated  or 
required  by  the  provisions  of  the  act. 

The  Board  of  Regents,  after  considerable  discussion,  by  resolu- 
tion adopted  January  26,  1847,  apportioned  one-half  of  the  annual 
income  (exclusive  of  building  expenses)  to  the  purpose  of  forming 
a  library  and  museum,  and  one-half  for  the  publication  of  original 
researches  and  for  the  support  of  public  lectures.  This  compromise 
between  contending  parties,  by  no  means  satisfied  the  judgment  of 
the  Secretary.  In  his  first  report  to  the  Regents,  presented  Decem- 

*  The  Smithsonian  Institution:  Documents  relative   to  its  Origin  and  History. 
Edited  by  William  J.  Rhees.    (Smith.  Mis.  Coll.  No.  328,)  pp.  262,  312,  and  320. 
t  The  Smithsonian  Institution.    By  W.  J.  Rhees.    Pp.  355,  366,  462-'4,  469-473. 


412  MEMORIAL   OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

ber  8,  1847,  Henry  strongly  urged  that  "In  carrying  out  the  spirit 
of  the  plan  adopted,  namely  that  of  affecting  men  in  general  by  the 
operations  of  the  Institution,  it  is  evident  that  the  principal  means 
of  'diffusing  knowledge'  must  be  the  Press"*  In  his  second 
report  he  sets  forth  that  "The  Institution  is  not  for  a  day,  but  is 
designed  to  endure  as  long  as  our  Government  shall  exist ;  and  it  is 
therefore  peculiarly  important  that  in  the  beginning  we  should  pro- 
ceed carefully  and  not  attempt  to  produce  immediate  effects  at  the 
expense  of  permanent  usefulness.  The  process  of  'increasing 
knowledge '  is  an  extremely  slow  one,  and  the  value  of  the  results 
of  this  part  of  the  plan,  cannot  be  properly  realized  until  some 
years  have  elapsed."  f  In  his  fourth  report  he  recapitulates :  "  To 
carry  out  the  design  of  the  testator,  various  plans  were  proposed; 
but  most  of  these  were  founded  on  an  imperfect  apprehension  of 
the  terms  of  the  will.  The  great  majority  of  them  contemplated 
merely  the  'diffusion7  of  popular  information,  and  neglected  the 
first  and  the  most  prominent  requisition  of  the  bequest,  namely  the 
'increase  of  knowledge/  The  only  plan  in  strict  conformity  with 
the  terms  of  the  will,  and  which  especially  commended  itself  to  men 
of  science,  a  class  to  which  Smithson  himself  belonged,  was  that  of 
an  active  living  organization,  intended  principally  to  promote  the 
discovery  and  diffusion  of  new  truths.  -  -  -  It  was  with  the 
hope  of  being  able  to  assist  in  the  practical  development  of  this 
plan  that  I  was  induced  to  accept  the  appointment  of  principal 
executive  officer  of  the  Institution.  Many  unforeseen  obstacles 
however  presented  themselves  to  its  full  adoption ;  and  its  advocates 
soon  found  in  contending  with  opposing  views  and  adverse  interests,  a 
wide  difference  between  what  in  their  opinion  ought  to  be  done,  and 
what  they  could  actually  accomplish.  -  -  -  After  much  discussion 
it  was  finally  concluded  to  divide  the  income  (after  deducting  the 
general  expenses)  into  two  equal  parts,  and  to  devote  one  part  to  the 
active  operations  set  forth  in  the  plan  just  described,  and  the  other 
to  the  formation  of  a  library,  a  museum,  and  a  gallery  of  art.  It 
was  evident  however  that  the  small  income  of  the  ^original  bequest 
—  though  in  itself  sufficient  to  do  much  good  in  the  way  of  active 
operations,  was  inadequate  to  carry  out  this  more  extended  plan. 
-  -  -  Though  one-half  of  the  annual  interest  is  to  be  expended 
on  the  library  and  the  museum,  the  portion  of  the  income  which 
can  be  thus  devoted  to  the  former,  will  in  my  opinion  never  be 
sufficient  without  extraneous  aid  to  collect  and  support  a  miscella- 
neous library  of  the  first  class.  Indeed,  all  the  income  would 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1847,  p.  133  (Sen.  ed.)— p.  130  (H.R.  ed.) 
t  Smithsonian  Report  for  1848,  p.  156  (Sen.  ed.)— p.  148  (H.  R.  ed.) 


DISCOURSE   O*'    W.  B.  TAYLOR: NOTES.  413 

scarcely  suffice  for  this  purpose/7  *  In  his  fifth  annual  report  he 
maintains  that  "the  idea  ought  never  to  be  entertained  that  the 
portion  of  the  limited  income  of  the  Smithsonian  fund  which  can 
be  devoted  to  the  purchase  of  books,  will  ever  be  sufficient  to  meet 
the  wants  of  the  American  scholar."  f  I*1  his  sixth  annual  report, 
exhibiting  the  valuable  contributions  to  knowledge  which  the  Insti- 
tution had  already  effected  in  the  few  years  of  its  existence,  he 
remarks:  "All  the  anticipations  indulged  with  regard  to  it  have 
been  fully  realized ;  and  after  an  experience  of  six  years,  there  can 
now  be  no  doubt  of  the  true  policy  of  the  Regents  in  regard  to  it. 
I  am  well  aware  however  that  the  idea  is  entertained  by  some  that 
the  system  of  active  operations  though  at  present  in  a  flourishing 
condition,  cannot  continue  to  be  the  prominent  object  of  attention; 
and  that  under  another  set  of  directors  other  counsels  will  prevail 
and  other  measures  be  adopted,  and  what  has  been  done  in  establish- 
ing this  system  will  ultimately  be  undone.'7  He  presents  however 
the  inspiriting  and  consoling  reflection:  "But  if  notwithstanding 
all  this,  the  Institution  is  destined  to  a  change  of  policy,  what  has 
been  well  done  in  the  line  we  are  advocating,  can  never  be  undone. 
The  new  truths  developed  by  the  researches  originated  by  the  Insti- 
tution and  recorded  in  its  publications,  the  effect  of  its  exchanges 
with  foreign  countries,  and  the  results  of  its  cataloguing  system,  can 
never  be  obliterated:  they  will  endure  through  all  coming  time. 
Should  the  Government  of  the  United  States  be  dissolved,  and  the 
Smithsonian  fund  dissipated  to  the  winds,  —  the  i  Smithsonian  Con- 
tributions to  Knowledge7  will  still  be  found  in  the  principal  libraries 
of  the  world,  a  perpetual  monument  of  the  wisdom  and  liberality 
of  the  founder  of  the  Institution,  and  of  the  faithfulness  of  those 
who  first  directed  its  affairs.  Whatever  therefore  may  be  the  future 
condition  of  the  Institution,  the  true  policy  for  the  present,  is  to 
devote  its  energies  to  the  system  of  active  operations.  All  other 
objects  should  be  subordinate  to  this,  and  in  no  wise  be  suffered  to 
diminish  the  good  which  it  is  capable  of  producing.  It  should  be 
prosecuted  with  discretion,  but  with  vigor :  the  results  will  be  its 
vindication.77 1  In  his  next  annual  report  he  reiterates:  "A  mis- 
cellaneous and  general  library,  museum,  and  gallery  of  art,  (though 
important  in  themselves,)  have  from  the  first  been  considered  by 
those  who  have  critically  examined  the  Will  of  Smithson,  to  be 
too  restricted  in  their  operations  and  too  local  in  their  influence,  to 
meet  the  comprehensive  intentions  of  the  testator;  and  the  hope 

*  Smithsonian   Report   for  1850,  pp.  186,  187,  and  205  (Sen.  ed.)— pp.  178,  179,  and 
197  (H.  R.  ed.) 

t  Smithsonian  Report  for  1851,  p.  224  (Sen.  ed.)— p.  216  (H.  R.  ed.) 

t  Smithsonian  Report  for  1852,  pp.233,  234  (Sen.  ed.)— pp.225,  226  (H.  R.  ed.) 


414  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

has  been  cherished  that  other  means  may  ultimately  be  provided  for 
the  support  of  those  objects,  and  that  the  whole  income  of  the 
Smithsonian  fund  may  be  devoted  to  the  more  legitimate  objects  of 
the  noble  bequest."  * 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Regents  held  March  12,  1853, 
a  committee  of  seven  was  appointed  to  consider  and  report  upon 
"the  subject  of  the  distribution  of  the  income  of  the  Institution,  in 
the  manner  contemplated  by  the  original  plan  of  organization." 
Hon.  R.  Choate,  a  member  of  this  committee,  being  unable  to  attend 
its  meetings,  (having  returned  to  Boston  at  the  end  of  his  Senatorial 
term  in  1 846,)  Hon.  James  Meacham  (of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives) was  appointed  to  take  his  place,  February  18,  1854.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  Regents  held  May  20, 1854,  Hon.  James  A.  Pearce, 
chairman  of  the  committee,  submitted  its  report,  presenting  a  very 
full  discussion  of  the  legal  questions — as  to  the  discretionary  power 
of  the  Regents,  and  the  true  policy  of  the  Institution.  On  the  first 
point,  after  showing  how  faithfully  the  specific  requirements  of  the 
organic  Act  had  been  executed,  the  committee  in  referring  to  the 
clause  that  the  annual  expenditure  for  the  library  should  not  exceed 
25,000  dollars  in  the  average,  maintained  that  "this  is  nothing  but 
a  limitation  upon  the  discretion  of  the  Regents,  and  can  by  no  rule 
of  construction  be  considered  as  intimating  the  desire  of  Congress 
that  such  sum  should  be  annually  appropriated.  The  limitation 
while  it  prevented  the  Regents  from  exceeding  that  sum,  left  them 
full  discretion  as  to  any  amount  within  that  limit."  On  the  second 
point,  the  committee  say:  "What  then  are  the  considerations  which 
should  govern  them  in  rejecting  the  plan  which  proposes  a  great 
library  as  the  best  and  chief — if  not  the  only  means  of  executing 
the  trust  created  by  the  Will  of  Smithson,  and  fulfilling  their  own 
duty  under  the  law?  The  'increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge 
among  men/  are  the  great  purposes  of  this  munificent  trust.  To 
increase  knowledge  implies  research,  or  new  and  active  investigation 
in  some  one  or  more  of  the  departments  of  learning.  To  diffuse 
knowledge  among  men,  implies  active  measures  for  its  distribution 
so  far  as  may  be,  among  mankind.  Neither  of  these  purposes  could 
be  accomplished  or  materially  advanced  by  the  accumulation  of  a 
great  library  at  the  city  of  Washington.  -  -  -  The  application 
of  25,000  dollars  annually  (five-sixths  of  the  whole  income  at  the 
date  of  the  Act)  to  the  purchase  of  books,  would  be  inconsistent 
with  and  subversive  of  the  whole  tenor  of  all  that  precedes  the  8th 
section. f  -  The  committee  need  not  repeat  in  detail  all  the 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1853,  pp.  10, 11  (Sen.  ed.) 

[fThe  residue  of  the  income  would  indeed  have  been  wholly  insufficient  even 
for  the  necessary  salaries  and  incidental  expenses  of  the  library  itself,— to  say 
nothing  of  the  other  interests  specifically  provided  for  by  the  5th  section  of  the  act] 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR: NOTES.  415 

parts  of  the  plan  of  organization,  but  may  mention  that  it  included 
the  exchange  of  the  published  transactions  of  the  Institution  with 
those  of  literary  and  scientific  societies  and  establishments,  and  pro- 
vided for  a  museum,  and  library,  to  consist  of  a  complete  collec- 
tion of  the  transactions  and  proceedings  of  all  the  learned  societies 
in  the  world,  of  the  more  important  current  periodical  publications 
and  other  works  necessary  to  scientific  investigations ;  thus  employ- 
ing the  instrumentalities  pointed  out  in  the  law,  as  means  of  in- 
creasing and  diffusing  knowledge,  entirely  consistent  with  and 
necessary  to  the  plan  of  research  and  publication.  This  plan  is  no 
longer  experimental ;  it  has  been  tested  by  experience ;  its  success  is 
acknowledged  by  all  who  are  capable  of  forming  a  correct  estimate 
of  its  results ;  and  the  Institution  has  every  encouragement  to  pur- 
sue steadily  its  system  of  stimulating,  assisting,  and  publishing 
research.  -  -  The  committee  submit  to  the  Board  the  follow- 
ing resolutions :  Resolved,  That  the  seventh  resolution  passed  by  the 
Board  of  Regents  on  the  26th  of  January,  1847,  requiring  an 
equal  division  of  the  income  between  the  active  operations,  and  the 
museum  and  library,  (when  the  buildings  are  completed,)  be  and  it 
is  hereby  repealed.  Resolved,  That  hereafter  the  annual  appropri- 
ations shall  be  apportioned  specifically  among  the  different  objects 
and  operations  of  the  Institution  in  such  manner  as  may  in  the 
judgment  of  the  Regents  be  necessary  and  proper  for  each,  accord- 
ing to  its  intrinsic  importance  and  a  compliance  in  good  faith  with 
the  law."  *  This  report  was  signed  by  six  of  the  committee :  Mr. 
Meacham  the  last  appointed  member  dissenting,  and  submitting  an 
elaborate  minority  report,  which  comprised  a  very  able  and  inge- 
nious argument  in  defence  of  the  library  plan,  f  The  resolutions 
offered  by  the  committee  were  adopted  by  the  Board  of  Regents 
January  15,  1855. 

As  six  of  the  fifteen  Regents  were  by  law  selected  from  senators 
and  representatives,  a  very  obvious  resort  for  a  member  dissatisfied 
with  the  action  of  a  majority,  was  a  motion  in  Congress  for  the 
familiar  "committee  of  inquiry."  Accordingly  Hon.  James  Mea- 
cham moved  in  the  House,  January  17, 1855,  that  a  select  commit- 
tee of  five  be  appointed,  "and  that  said  committee  be  directed  to 
inquire  and  report  to  the  House  whether  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion has  been  managed,  and  its  funds  expended  in  accordance  with 
the  law  establishing  the  Institution;  and  whether  any  additional 
legislation  be  necessary  to  carry  out  the  designs  of  its  founders: 
and  that  said  committee  have  power  to  send  for  persons  and  papers." 
The  resolution  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  93  to  91.J 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1853,  pp.  81-97  (Sen.  ed.) 

t  Smithsonian  Report  for  1853,  (appendix  to  H.  B.  ed.)  pp.  247-296. 

I  The  Smithsonian  Institution.    By  W.  J.  Rhees,  pp.  569-572. 


416  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

On  the  3d  of  March,  1855,  Hon.  Charles  W.  Upham,  chairman 
of  the  select  committee,  submitted  to  the  House  what  must  be 
regarded  as  a  minority  report;  declaring  "No  doubt  we  think 
can  be  entertained  that  the  framers  and  enactors  of  the  law  expected 
that  about  200,000  dollars  would  be  expended  'for  the  formation 
of  a  library  composed  of  valuable  works  pertaining  to  all  depart- 
ments of  knowledge/  in  eight  years. "  After  criticising  the  system 
approved  by  the  Regents,  of  devoting  a  large  portion  of  the  Smith- 
sonian income  to  the  promotion  of  original  research,  the  report 
states :  "At  the  same  time  they  do  not  cast  blame  or  censure  of  any 
sort  upon  those  who  suggested  and  have  labored  to  carry  out  that 
system.  The  design  was  in  itself  commendable  and  elevated.  It 
has  unquestionably  been  pursued  with  zeal,  sincerity,  integrity,  and 
high  motives  and  aims :  but  it  is  we  think  necessarily  surrounded 
with  very  great  difficulties.  -  -  -  But  a  few  words  are  needed 
to  do  justice  to  the  value  of  a  great  universal  library  at  the  metrop- 
olis of  the  Union :"  &c.  -  -  -  The  report  concludes  with  the 
judgment  that  as  a  measure  of  mutual  concession,  "the  compromise 
adopted  at  an  early  day  by  the  Board  of  Regents,  ought  to  be 
restored,  and  that  all  desirable  ends  may  be  ultimately  secured  by 
dividing  the  income  equally  between  the  library  and  museum  on 
one  part,  and  the  active  operations  on  the  other."  This  report  was 
signed  by  the  chairman,  Mr.  Upham,  alone ;  —  two  of  the  commit- 
tee (Messrs.  William  H.  Witte  and  Nathaniel  G.  Taylor)  presenting 
a  dissenting  report,  and  the  remaining  two  (Messrs.  Richard  C. 
Puryear  and  Daniel  Wells)  declining  to  sign  either.  The  report 
submitted  by  Mr.  Witte  (no  less  elaborate  than  that  by  the  chair- 
man) concluded:  "They  believe  that  the  Regents  and  the  Secretary 
have  managed  the  affairs  of  the  Institution  wisely,  faithfully,  and 
judiciously;  that  there  is  no  necessity  for  further  legislation  on  the 
subject;  and  that  if  the  Institution  be  allowed  to  continue  the  plan 
which  has  been  adopted  and  so  far  pursued  with  unquestionable 
success,  it  will  satisfy  all  the  requirements  of  the  law,  and  the  pur- 
poses of  Smithson's  Will,  by  '  increasing  and  diffusing  knowledge 
among  men/ "  *  Upon  these  conflicting  and  balanced  reports  no 
action  was  taken  by  the  House. 

Simultaneously  in  the  Senate,  Hon.  John  M.  Clayton,  January 
17,  1855,  introduced  a  resolution  "that  the  Committee  on  the 
Judiciary  inquire  whether  any,  and  if  any  —  what  action  of  the 
Senate  is  necessary  and  proper  in  regard  to  the  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tution?" On  the  6th  of  February,  1855,  Hon.  Andrew  P.  Butler, 
chairman  of  the  Judiciary  Committee,  submitted  to  the  Senate  a 
report  completely  vindicating  the  course  pursued  by  the  Regents; 

*  The  Smithsonian  Institution.    By  W.  J.  Rhees,  pp.  589-628. 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR: — NOTES.  417 

in  which  it  is  maintained  that  "any  increase  of  knowledge  that 
might  be  acquired  was  not  to  be  locked  up  in  the  Institution  or  pre- 
served only  for  the  citizens  of  Washington  or  persons  who  might  visit 
the  Institution.  It  was  by  the  express  terms  of  the  trust,  (which 
the  United  States  wras  pledged  to  execute,)  to  be  'diffused  among 
men/  This  could  be  done  in  no  other  way  than  by  publications  at 
the  expense  of  the  Institution.  Nor  has  Congress  prescribed  the 
sums  which  shall  be  appropriated  to  these  different  objects.  It  is 
left  to  the  discretion  and  judgment  of  the  Regents.  -  -  -  These 
operations  appear  to  have  been  carried  out  by  the  Regents  under 
the  immediate  superintendence  of  Professor  Henry,  with  zeal, 
energy,  and  discretion,  and  with  the  strictest  regard  to  economy  in 
the  expenditure  of  the  funds.  Nor  does  there  seem  to  be  any  other 
mode  which  Congress  could  prescribe  or  the  Regents  adopt,  which 
Avould  better  fulfill  the  high  trust  \vhich  the  United  States  have 
undertaken  to  perform.  -  -  -  The  committee  see  nothing  there- 
fore in  their  conduct  which  calls  for  any  new  legislation,  or  any 
change  in  the  powers  now  exercised  by  the  Regents."  And  the 
report  concludes  in  "  the  language  of  the  resolution,  that  '  no  action 
of  the  Senate  is  necessary  and  proper  in  regard  to  the  Smithsonian 
Institution :'  and  this  is  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  committee."  * 

And  thus  ended  an  earnest  struggle  of  many  years  between 
Science  and  Literature  for  the  possession  of  Smithson's  endowment : 
and  though  the  interest  in  the  controversy  has  long  since  passed 
away  in  the  permanent  establishment  of  Henry's  far-reaching 
policy,  its  history  is  suggestive  and  instructive.  No  better  conclud- 
ing summary  can  be  presented,  than  by  an  extract  from  a  quite  recent 
judicious  and  dispassionate  recapitulation  of  the  discussion  and  its 
results,  written  for  The  International  Review,  by  Mr.  A.  R.  Spoffbrd, 
the  scholarly  librarian  of  the  Government  Library  at  Washington : 

"  The  net  result  of  the  protracted  controversy  was  to  leave  the 
Regents  to  put  their  own  interpretation  upon  the  law,  and  every 
step  since  taken  in  the  management  of  the  Smithsonian  bequest, 
has  been  in  the  direction  of  curtailing  every  expenditure  for  other 
objects  than  the  procuring,  publishing,  and  distributing  of  what 
were  deemed  valuable  original  contributions  to  human  knowledge. 
In  strict  accordance  with  this  theory,  the  library  gathered  by  the 
purchases  and  exchanges  of  twenty  years,  was  transferred  to  the 
Capitol  in  1866,  and  became  a  part  of  the  library  of  the  Govern- 
ment. This  large  addition  formed  a  most  valuable  complement  to 
the  collection  already  gathered  at  the  Capitol.  It  embraced  the 
largest  assemblage  of  transactions  and  other  publications  of  learned 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1855,  pp.  83-86.— Rhees'  Smitfmmicm  Institution,  pp.  562-567. 
27 


418  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH   HENRY. 

societies  in  all  parts  of  the  globe  and  in  nearly  all  the  modern  lan- 
guages, which  is  to  be  found  in  the  country.  -  -  -  The  Smith- 
sonian deposit,  kept  up  as  it  is  from  year  to  year  by  additions  of 
new  contributions  in  every  department  of  scientific  literature,  sup- 
plies —  in  connection  with  the  extensive  Library  of  Congress,  a  larger 
collection  of  scientific  books  for  use  and  reference,  than  is  to  be 
found  in  any  one  body  elsewhere  in  the  United  States.  The  waste 
of  means  incident  to  the  duplication  of  two  extensive  libraries  at 
the  seat  of  Government  is  thus  obviated,  while  the  convenience  and 
interests  of  scholars  pursuing  their  researches,  are  in  the  highest 
degree  promoted  by  the  consolidation."  * 


Note  L.     (From  p.  285.) 

DISTRIBUTION   OF    SMITHSONIAN   MATERIAL. 

For  the  great  organic  purpose  of  furthering  scientific  research, 
not  only  have  vast  numbers  of  duplicate  specimens  been  liberally 
distributed,  but  even  reserved  specimens  of  special  interest  or  rarity 
have  been  loaned  under  proper  conditions  to  original  workers. 
Perhaps  the  review  of  a  single  year's  application  of  such  material, 
will  best  convey  an  idea  of  its  general  character : 

"  It  has  always  been  the  policy  of  the  Institution  to  furnish  speci- 
mens for  special  study  and  investigation  to  naturalists  of  established 
reputation,  either  in  this  country  or  abroad.  The  use  of  these 
specimens  is  granted  under  the  express  condition  that  they  are  to 
form  the  subject  of  investigation,  the  results  of  which  are  to  be 
published  by  the  Institution  or  some  other  establishment,  and  that 
in  all  cases  full  credit  is  to  be  given  to  the  Institution  for  the  assist- 
ance it  has  rendered.  Furthermore,  in  the  case  of  the  preparation 
of  a  monograph,  a  full  set  of  the  type  specimens  correctly  labeled 
is  to  be  put  aside  for  the  National  Museum,  and  the  remainder  of 
the  specimens  made  up  into  sets  for  distribution.  The  following 
list  presents  the  more  important  cases  of  the  loan  or  assignment  of 
materials  during  the  past  year.  Some  of  the  specimens  have  already 
been  returned,  while  the  remainder  are  still  in  the  hands  of  the 
parties  to  whom  they  were  intrusted : 

"  Crania  of  the  recent  and  fossil  bison,  musk-ox,  &c.  to  Professor 
L.  Agassiz,  of  Cambridge,  Mass :  —  land  shells  of  Central  and  South 
America  to  Thomas  Bland,  of  New  York:  —  land  and  fresh-water 
shells  of  North  America  to  W.  G.  Binney,  Burlington,  N.  J.  —  nests 
and  eggs  of  North  American  birds  to  Dr.  T.  M.  Brewer,  Boston:  — 

*  The  International  Review  for  November,  1878,  vol.  v.  pp.  762-764. 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR: — NOTES.  419 

birds  of  South  America  and  Alaska  to  John  Cassin,  Philadelphia:  — 
Alcadse  of  North  America  to  Dr.  Elliott  Coues,  U.  8.  Army: — col- 
lections of  American  and  foreign  reptiles  to  Professor  E.  D.  Cope, 
Philadelphia:  —  fungi  from  the  Indian  Territory  to  the  Rev.  M.  A. 
Curtis,  Hillsborough,  N.  C.  —  unfigured  species  of  North  American 
birds  to  D.  G.  Elliott,  New  York: — diatomaceous  earths  and  deep- 
sea  soundings  to  Arthur  M.  Edwards,  New  York: — Lepidoptera 
from  various  North  American  localities  to  W.  H.  Edwards,  Coalburg, 
Va. —  seeds  of  Boehmeria  received  from  the  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture, to  Dr.  Earl  Flint,  Nicaragua: — plants  collected  in  Ecuador  by 
the  expedition  under  Professor  Orton,  to  Dr.  Asa  Gray,  Cambridge, 
Mass.  —  miscellaneous  specimens  of  North  American  insects  to  Pro- 
fessor T.  Glover,  Department  of  Agriculture,  Washington: — gen- 
eral collection  of  birds  of  Costa  Rica  and  Yucatan  to  George  N. 
Lawrence,  New  York :  — American  Unionidse  to  Isaac  Lea,  Phila- 
delphia:— series  of  North  American  salamanders  to  St.  George 
Mivart,  London: — American  Diptera  to  Baron  R.  Osten-Sacken> 
New  York :  —  Lepidoptera  of  Ecuador  and  Yucatan  to  Tryon  Rea- 
kirt,  Philadelphia: — plants  collected  in  Alaska  by  various  expe- 
ditions to  Dr.  J.  T.  Rothrock,  McVeytown,  Pa.  —  birds  of  Buenos 
Ayres  received  from  W.  H.  Hudson,  and  a  series  of  small  Ameri- 
can owls,  to  Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater  and  Osbert  Salvin,  London:  —  mis- 
cellaneous collections  of  American  Orthoptera  to  S.  H.  Scudder, 
Boston :  — collections  of  American  Hemiptera  to  P.  R.  Uhler,  Bal- 
timore:—  American  myriapods  and  spiders  to  Dr.  H.  C.  Wood, 
Philadelphia: — human  crania  from  northwestern  America  and  the 
ancient  mounds  of  Kentucky,  also  collections  from  the  ancient  shell- 
heaps  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Brunswick,  to  Dr.  Jeffreys  Wyman, 
Cambridge,  Mass. 

"  Few  persons  are  aware  of  the  great  extent  to  which  this  Smith- 
sonian material  has  been  used  by  American  and  foreign  naturalists, 
or  the  number  of  new  facts  and  new  species  which  have  been  con- 
tributed to  natural  history  through  its  means."  * 


Note  M.     (From  p. 

OVERFLOWING   CONDITION   OF   THE   MUSEUM. 

"It  is  a  question  whether  any  museum  in  the  world  is  in  receipt 
of  so  great  an  amount  of  material  as  the  National  Museum  at 
Washington ;  and  were  the  rule  of  the  British  Museum  to  prevail, 
it  would  be  crushed  by  the  weight  of  its  own  riches.  The  constant 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1868,  pp.  36,  37. 


420  MEMORIAL    OF    JOSEPH    HENRY. 

effort  however  on  the  part  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution  to  utilize 
this  material  in  the  interest  of  science  and  education,  tends  to  keep 
down  the  mass,  though  it  is  only  at  the  expense  of  the  incessant 
activity  and  constant  labor  of  the  Museum  force  that  this  object  is 
in  any  measure  accomplished.  -  -  -  It  may  be  proper  to  state 
that  for  the  exhibition  of  the  full  series  of  objects  now  in  possession 
of  the  Institution,  and  not  including  any  unnecessary  duplicates, 
much  ampler  accommodations  will  be  needed  than  can  be  had  in 
the  building ;  and  if  these  are  to  be  displayed  as  they  should  be,  it 
will  be  necessary  at  no  distant  day  to  provide  means  for  extending 
the  space,  either  by  a  transfer  of  the  entire  collection  to  new  build- 
ings, or  by  making  additions  to  that  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 
In  illustration  of  this  statement  it  may  be  remarked  that  of  sixty- 
seven  thousand  specimens  of  birds  entered  in  the  catalogues  of  the 
museum,  and  of  which  more  than  forty  thousand  are  on  hand, — 
(the  remainder  having  been  distributed,)  less  than  five  thousand  are 
mounted  and  on  exhibition,  these  occupying  fully  two-fifths  of  the 
present  hall :  the  rest  are  preserved  as  skins,  in  chests,  draAvers,  and 
boxes,  and  of  them  fifteen  thousand  —  or  three  times  the  number  at 
present  on  exhibition,  require  to  be  displayed  for  the  proper  illus- 
tration of  even  American  ornithology.  The  urgency  for  additional 
room  is  still  greater  for  the  mammals.  Here,  out  of  some  five  or 
six  thousand  specimens,  less  than  so  many  hundred  are  exhibited, 
the  remainder  alone  being  almost  sufficient  to  occupy  half  of  the 
hall.  Of  many  thousands  of  skeletons  of  mammals,  birds,  reptiles, 
and  fishes,  a  very  small  percentage  is  shown  to  the  public,  while 
exhibition-room  to  the  amount  of  thousands  of  square  feet  is 
required  for  specimens  that  now  occupy  drawers  in  side  apartments. 
Of  the  very  large  collection  of  alcoholic  specimens  which  constitute 
the  most  important  material  in  every  public  museum,  scarcely  any- 
thing is  on  exhibition,  although  the  selection  of  a  single  series  for 
this  purpose  is  very  desirable."  * 

"  The  Museum  portion  of  the  Smithsonian  edifice  consists  of  two 
rooms  of  about  10,000  square  feet  area  each,  with  a  connecting 
range  and  gallery  of  about  5,000  square  feet.  The  specimens  in 
cases  are  at  present  very  much  crowded,  while  very  many  others  are 
in  boxes  occupying  the  passages  and  intermediate  spaces.  The 
basement  of  the  Institution,  nearly  400  feet  long,  is  a  series  of 
store-rooms  for  the  reception  of  portions  of  the  collection  not  yet 
-exhibited  in  the  upper  halls,  and  thus  without  benefit  to  the  gen- 
eral public.  -  -  -  An  estimate  of  25,000  square  feet,  or  a  space 
equal  to  that  of  the  upper  halls,  is  by  no  means  extravagant  for  the 
proper  display  of  the  specimens  thus  excluded. 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1873,  pp  49,  50. 


DISCOURSE    OF    W.  B.  TAYLOR: NOTES.  421 

"  Anticipating  the  necessity  of  increased  accommodations  for  the 
Centennial  collections  and  accessions,  the  Smithsonian  Institution 
in  1875  made  application  to  Congress  for  the  use  of  the  Armory 
building  in  the  square  between  Sixth  and  Seventh  streets, — an 
edifice  100  feet  by  50,  having  four  floors.  This  it  was  supposed 
would  be  adequate  at  the  close  of  the  Centennial,  for  the  reception 
and  exhibition  of  at  least  the  fishery  exhibit  and  that  of  economical 
mineralogy.  So  great  however  was  the  surplus  of  Centennial 
material  to  be  provided  for,  that  the  building  is  now  filled  with 
boxed  specimens,  occupying  for  the  most  part  the  entire  space  from 
floor  to  ceiling  of  each  room.  The  building  is  not  fire-proof,  and 
although  the  specimens  in  it  represent  some  of  the  most  valuable 
and  important  of  the  series,  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  their  destruc- 
tion by  fire,  or  their  injury  from  damp,  vermin,  or  other  causes;  — 
a  result  which  would  constitute  an  irreparable  loss.  As  the  four 
floors  of  the  Armory  referred  to,  present  20,000  feet  of  area,  an 
estimate  of  50,000  feet  for  the  proper  display  of  the  specimens  now 
stored  in  them  cannot  be  considered  extravagant;  thus  making  the 
entire  additional  space  required, —  75,000  square  feet.  Only  one- 
fourth  of  the  specimens  in  charge  of  the  Institution  are  at  present 
on  exhibition,  the  remainder  being  entirely  withdrawn  from  public 
inspection;  so  that  the  necessity  for  prompt  effort  to  secure  the 
proper  accommodations  will  be  readily  understood.  .  -  -  -  In 
view  of  the  fact  that  the  collections  for  which  provision  is  needed 
represent  a  bulk  of  at  least  three  times  the  present  capacity  of  the 
Smithsonian  building,  it  is  evident  that  to  accommodate  these,  and 
to  make  reasonable  provision  for  probable  increase  in  the  future,  a 
building  of  great  magnitude  will  be  required."  * 


Note  N.     (From  p.  309.} 

INVESTIGATION    OF   ILLUMINANTS. 

"At  the  commencement  of  the  operations  of  the  Light-House 
Board  in  1852,  sperm  oil  was  generally  employed  for  the  purpose 
of  illumination.  This  was  an  excellent  illuminant;  but  as  its  price 
continued  to  advance  from  year  to  year,  it  was  thought  proper  to 
attempt  the  introduction  of  some  other  material.  The  first  attempt 
of  this  kind  was  that  of  the  introduction  of  colza  oil,  which  was 
generally  used  in  the  light-houses  of  Europe,  and  is  extracted  from 
the  seed  of  a  species  of  wild  cabbage  —  known  in  this  country  as 
rape,  and  in  France  as  colza.  For  this  purpose  a  quantity  of  rape- 

*  Smithsonian  Report  for  1876,  pp.  45,  50. 


422  MEMORIAL   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

seed  was  imported  from  France  and  distributed  through  the  agri- 
cultural department  of  the  Patent  Office  to  different  parts  of  the 
country,  with  the  hope  that  our  farmers  would  be  induced  to  attempt 
its  cultivation.  Although  the  climate  of  the  country  appeared 
favorable  to  its  growth,  and  special  instructions  were  prepared  and 
distributed  by  the  Light-House  Board  for  its  culture  and  the  means 
of  producing  oil  from  it,  yet  the  enterprise  was  not  undertaken  with 
any  approximation  to  success,  except  in  Wisconsin,  where  a  manu- 
factory of  rape-seed  oil  was  established  by  Colonel  C.  S.  Hamilton, 
formerly  of  the  United  States  Army.  To  this  manufactory  the 
Light-House  Board  gave  special  encouragement  and  purchased  at 
a  liberal  price  all  the  oil  that  could  be  supplied.  The  quantity 
however  which  could  be  procured  was  but  a  small  part  of  the  illumi- 
nating material  required  for  the  annual  consumption  of  the  Light- 
House  Establishment." 

After  referring  to  some  investigations  made  for  the  Board  by 
Professor  J.  H.  Alexander,  of  Baltimore,  the  Report  quoted  pro- 
ceeds :  "  The  chairman  of  the  committee  on  experiments  commenced 
himself  to  investigate  the  qualities  of  different  kinds  of  oil,  and 
was  soon  led  to  direct  his  attention  to  the  comparative  value  of 
sperm  and  lard  oils.  The  experiments  made  by  Mr.  Alexander 
were  with  small  lamps,  and  the  comparison  in  this  case  (as  will  be 
shown)  was  much  against  the  lard  oil.  The  first  experiment  of  the 
new  series,  consisted  in  charging  two  small  conical  lamps  of  the 
capacity  of  about  a  half  pint,  one  with  pure  sperm  oil  and  the  other 
with  lard  oil.  These  lamps  Avere  of  single-rope  wicks  each  contain- 
ing the  same  number  of  strands :  they  were  lighted  at  the  same 
time,  and  the  photometrical  power  ascertained  by  the  method  of 
shadows.  At  first  the  two  were  nearly  equal  in  brilliancy,  but  after 
burning  about  three  hours,  the  flame  of  the  lard  had  declined  in 
photometric  power  to  about  one-fifth  of  that  of  the  flame  of  the 
sperm.  The  question  then  occurred  as  to  the  cause  of  this  decline, 
and  it  was  suggested  that  it  might  be  due  —  first,  to  a  greater  specific 
gravity  in  the  lard  oil,  which  would  retard  the  ascent  of  it  in  the 
wick  after  the  level  of  the  oil  had  been  reduced  by  burning  in  the 
lamp;  or  second,  to  a  want  of  a  sufficient  attraction  between  the 
oil  and  the  wick  to  furnish  the  requisite  supply  as  the  oil  descended 
in  the  lamp;  or  third,  it  might  be  due  in  part  to  the  imperfect 
liquidity  of  the  oil,  which  would  also  militate  against  its  use  in 
mechanical  lamps. 

"The  lard  oil  was  subjected  to  experiments  in  regard  to  each  of 
these  points.  It  was  found  by  the  usual  method  of  weighing  equal 
quantities  of  the  two  fluids,  that  the  specific  gravity  of  the  lard  was 
greater  than  that  of  the  sperm ;  and  also  by  dipping  two  portions 


DISCOURSE   OF    W.  B.  TAYLOR: NOTES.  423 

of  the  same  wick  into  the  two  liquids  and  noting  the  height  to 
which  each  ascended  in  a  given  time,  that  the  surface  attraction  of 
the  sperm  was  greater  than  that  of  the  lard,  or  in  other  words  that 
the  ascensional  power  of  sperm  was  much  greater  than  that  of  lard  at 
ordinary  temperatures.  This  method  was  also  employed  in  obtain- 
ing the  relative  surface  attraction  of  various  other  liquids;  we  say 
surface  attraction  instead  of  capillarity,  because  it  was  found  in  the 
course  of  these  investigations  that  substances  which  had  less  capil- 
larity (that  is  less  elevating  power  in  a  fine  tube)  had  greater  power 
in  ascending  in  the  meshes  of  a  wick.  The  relative  fluidity  of  the 
different  oils  was  obtained  by  filling  in  succession  a  pear-shaped 
vessel  with  a  narrow  neck,  of  about  the  capacity  of  a  pint,  having 
a  hole  in  the  lowest  part  of  the  bottom,  of  about  a  tenth  of  an  inch 
in  diameter.  Such  a  vessel  filled  with  any  number  of  perfect 
liquids,  would  be  emptied  in  the  same  time — whatever  their  specific 
gravity.  As  at  any  given  horizon,  inertia  is  directly  proportional 
to  gravity,  the  heavier  the  liquid  the  greater  would  be  the  power 
required  to  move  it ;  but  the  motive  power  would  be  in  proportion 
to  the  pressure,  or  in  other  Avords  to  the  weight,  and  therefore  all 
perfect  liquids  should  issue  from  the  same  orifice  with  the  same 
velocity.  To  test  this  proposition,  eight  fluid  ounces  of  clean  mer- 
cury and  then  the  same  bulk  of  distilled  water,  were  allowed  to  run 
out  of  the  vessel  above  mentioned :  the  time  observed  was  the  same 
within  the  nearest  second.  It  was  found  in  repeating  this  experi- 
ment with  sperm  and  lard  oils  that  the  rapidity  of  the  flow  of  the 
former  exceeded  considerably  that  of  the  latter;  the  ratio  of  time 
being  100  to  167. 

"The  results  thus  far  in  these  investigations  were  apparently 
against  the  use  of  lard  oil :  it  was  observed  however  that  in  the 
experiments  on  the  flow  of  the  two  oils,  a  variation  in  the  time 
occurred,  which  could  only  be  attributed  to  a  variation  in  the  tem- 
perature at  which  the  experiments  were  made.  In  relation  to  this 
point,  the  effect  of  an  increase  of  the  temperature  above  that  of  the 
atmosphere,  on  the  flowing  of  the  two  oils  was  observed.  By  this 
means  the  important  fact  was  elicited  that  as  the  temperature  was 
increased,  the  liquidity  of  the  lard  increased  in  a  more  rapid  degree 
than  that  of  the  sperm,  and  that  at  the  temperature  of  about  250°  F. 
the  liquidity  of  the  former  exceeded  that  of  the  latter.  A  similar 
series  of  experiments  was  made  in  regard  to  the  rapidity  of  ascent 
of  the  oil  in  the  wick,  and  with  a  similar  result.  At  about  the 
temperature  of  that  before  mentioned,  the  ascensional  power  of  the 
lard  was  greater  than  that  of  the  sperm.  These  results  were  recog- 
nized as  having  an  important  bearing  on  the  question  of  the  appli- 
cation of  lard  oil  as  a  light-house  illuminant.  It  only  required  to 


424  MEMORIAL,   OF   JOSEPH    HENRY. 

be  burned  at  a  high  temperature;  and  as  this  could  be  readily 
obtained  in  the  case  of  larger  lamps,  there  appeared  to  be  no 
difficulty  in  its  application. 

"  The  previous  trials  had  been  with  small  lamps  with  single  solid 
wicks  instead  of  the  Fresnel  lamp  with  hollow  burners.  After 
these  preliminary  experiments,  two  light-houses  of  the  first  order, 
at  Cape  Ann,  Massachusetts,  separated  by  a  distance  of  only  900 
feet,  were  selected  as  affording  excellent  facilities  for  trying  in 
actual  burning,  the  correctness  of  the  conclusions  which  had  pre- 
viously been  arrived  at.  One  of  these  light-houses  was  supplied 
with  sperm  and  the  other  with  lard  oil,  each  lamp  being  so  trimmed 
as  to  exhibit  its  greatest  capacity.  It  was  found  by  photometrical 
trial  that  the  lamp  supplied  with  lard,  exceeded  in  intensity  of 
light  that  of  the  one  furnished  with  sperm.  The  experiment  was 
continued  for  several  months,  and  the  relative  volume  of  the  two 
materials  carefully  observed.  The  quantity  of  sperm  burned  dur- 
ing the  continuance  of  the  experiment,  was  to  that  of  the  lard,  as 
100  is  to  104."  * 

This  remarkable  success  in  elevating  the  disparaged  lard  oil  to 
the  highest  rank  as  an  illuminant,  was  of  course  very  damaging  to 
the  new  manufacture  of  colza  oil ;  and  no  more  characteristic  tribute 
to  the  energetic  skill  of  Henry  could  be  offered,  than  that  contained 
in  the  following  frank  and  manly  letter  by  Colonel  C.  S.  Hamilton, 
the  manufacturer,  (who  by  special  invitation  had  been  present  at 
several  competitive  photometric  trials,)  addressed  to  the  Naval  Sec- 
retary of  the  Light-House  Board,  Commodore  Andrew  A.  Harwood : 

"FoND  DU  LAC,  Wis.  May  16,  1868. 

"  DEAR  COMMODORE  :  I  must  confess  my  great  disappointment  at 
the  result  of  the  experiments  at  Staten  Island.  It  is  however  not 
really  so  much  the  failure  of  rape-seed  oil,  as  the  undeniable  excel- 
lence of  lard  oil  as  a  burner.  I  am  satisfied  now  that  for  self-heat- 
ing lamps  there  is  no  oil  that  will  bear  comparison  with  lard,  but  I 
am  equally  satisfied  that  no  colza  oil  will  yield  a  better  result  than 
ours,  under  exactly  the  same  tests.  We  have  but  one  more  experi- 
ment to  make  with  colza ;  it  is  its  extraction  by  chemical  displace- 
ment. If  this  fails  we  shall  abandon  the  whole  business. 

"If  all  things  are  put  together,  I  think  the  following  statement 
will  be  allowed,  to  wit :  Our  colza  oil  of  this  year  is  equal  to  any 
foreign  colza.  It  is  better  than  any  we  have  heretofore  made.  It 
is  better  than  sperm,  or  any  other  burner,  excepting  only  lard  oil. 
Our  failure  then  is  owing  to  the  superior  excellence  of  lard  oil, 
which  under  the  persistent  investigation  of  the  Board,  has  been 

*  Report  of  the  Light-House  Board  for  1875,  pp.  86-88. 


DISCOURSE   OF   W.  B.  TAYLOR:  —  NOTES.  425 

shown  to  be  the  best  and  cheapest  safe  illuminator  available.  The 
Board  are  entitled  to  great  credit  in  producing  this  result.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  but  a  few  years  since,  lard  oil  was  pronounced 
unsuitable  for  light-house  purposes;  but  the  perseverance  of  the 
Board  has  brought  out  the  fact  that  it  is  much  the  best  and  cheapest 
oil,  and  that  the  expenses  of  lighting  the  coast  and  harbors  have 
been  thereby  greatly  reduced.  Surely  the  country  at  large  should 
acknowledge  this,  and  give  due  credit  to  the  Board.  We  have 
endeavored  to  do  with  colza  what  the  Board  have  effected  with  lard 
oil,  and  we  have  been  unsuccessful  both  for  ourselves  and  the  light- 
house interest.  -  -  - 

"  We  are  grateful  to  each  member  of  the  Board  for  the  interest 
they  have  always  shown  in  our  undertaking,  and  for  their  uniform 
kindness  and  courtesy.  Accept,  my  dear  Commodore,  for  yourself 
and  your  associates  in  the  Board,  my  warmest  thanks  for  your  many 
kind  expressions  of  interest,  and  believe  me 

"Truly  and  gratefully,  yours, 

"C.  S.  HAMILTON." 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SANTA  CRUZ 

SCIENCE  LIBRARY 


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